Parents turn to prepaid for college-age kids

A MasterCard Worldwide survey said almost 65 percent of parents are worried about the money management skills of their college-aged children and that two out of every five parents believe their children will run out of money in the first month of college. Those statistics bolster the conclusion reached by the MasterCard Student Transition survey that debit and prepaid cards help ease parents' fears that their children will go into debt as freshmen at college.

Other findings from the survey include:

• Parents are concerned their adult children will not be able to manage their credit ratings.
• Parents feel more comfortable about their adult childrens' ability to manage finances when parents can exert control over their spending via text message alerts and the ability to freeze spending.

In June 2012, MasterCard and the International Student Identity Card Association launched the ISIC Prepaid MasterCard in the United States. The open-loop, network-branded identification and payment card is designed for international students and is being distributed by discount student travel agency STA Travel.

"The ISIC MasterCard allows students around the world, who are largely underbanked, a payment tool to efficiently manage their spending as they explore the new found independence of transitioning to adulthood," said Carlos Menendez, MasterCard Group Executive, Global Debit.

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