The Iowa Public Interest Research Group released a study Thursday that shows that students across the nation are targeted with marketing tactics by credit card companies.

“We’re not saying that credit cards are inherently evil. There will be students that need them,” said Kathleen Cogan, campus organizer for Iowa PIRG. “But, we are saying that the way they are marketed should be more responsible.”

The study surveyed more than 1,500 students at 40 colleges across the country, including Iowa State.

It reported that three out of four students will stop at tables to consider offers that involve free gifts, ranging from T-shirts to food to iPod Shuffles.

According to the study, nearly 66 percent of students have at least one credit card, and 74 percent of students want cards with fair terms and conditions.

“Some types of credit cards that are marketed are unfair to students. We’ve seen revolving due dates for payments and universal defaults, where if you are late on a completely separate account, you get a fee,” Cogan said. “We’re trying to keep those kinds of cards off campus.”

Devin Hartman, senior in political science and president of Iowa PIRG, found some of the results surprising.

“I kind of expected a few students to cave into spur-of-the-moment decisions, but the amount of fees and money racked up is new,” he said. “It’s also interesting to see that 80 percent of the students were in support of restricting marketing.”

The next step Iowa PIRG plans to take is to work with ISU administration to establish a few ground rules and principles about credit card marketing on campus.

“The most important ones would be prohibiting the use of free gifts, keeping companies from purchasing student lists for marketing and prohibit school department sponsorship,” Cogan said.

While Iowa PIRG continues to work to obtain better credit card options, the group gave some tips to keep students from getting into too much credit trouble. The most important of which was to be skeptical of free gifts.

“The most effective route for marketing was the free promotional deals,” Hartman said.

The other piece of advice was to look before you leap at what the card agreement really allows you to do.

“Students really have to take credit seriously. Make rational decisions that you think about – avoid spur-of-the-moment decisions,” Hartman said.

PIRG offers a Web site, www.truthaboutcredit.org, with information about how to properly manage credit.

“We were really just trying to get a good pulse on how students view this issue,” Cogan said.

The organization also plans to help educate students by setting up booths similar to credit card companies, but offering information instead.

“We want to engage students much in the same way companies want to do,” Hartman said. “Marketing on a national level really has to be curtailed.”