When getting ready to go to college my mother told me not to sign up for any credit cards offers unless I talked to her first. College students are constantly targeted by credit card companies at college fairs, pre-approved cards, freebies and more. But not so much anymore thanks to the new credit card from reform. Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2009, also known as the Credit CARD Act, will go into effect on Feb. 22, 2010. This is meant to help protect people from credit card companies hidden fees, change in APR (interest), and fine print. When proposing the bill President Obama said, "Americans know that they have a responsibility to live within their means and pay what they owe but they also have a right to not get ripped off by the sudden rate hikes, unfair penalties and hidden fees that have become all too common in our credit card industry."
 

The Credit CARD Act has many aspects to help Americans, and is going to attempt to help the Under 21year olds who often get swept up in the instant gratification of credit. The Act will affect Under 21 year olds in several ways:

Basically,
• Credit for young consumers: Ban credit cards for people under 21 unless they have a co-signer or proof that they have income to pay them back, Bans pre-screening and pre approved credit cards, and the Under 21 year old has get permission from co-signer to increase credit limits on joint accounts
• College marketing: Colleges have to disclose the student information they give credit card information; Credit card issuers are required to file annual reports with the Federal Reserve Board detailing the terms and conditions of all business, marketing and promotional deals with colleges and universities, including the amount of any payments made to the school; Recommend colleges universities and alumni associations to not allow credit card companies to promote on campus or near campus (now near campus is defined as 1,000 miles from the border of the campus)
• No more freebies or promotional gifts to get young
More details
(VIA: Creditcard.com)

College students have already reacted. Some student like Cierra Jackson, a 21-year-old public relations major at Florida A & M University, says "I think it's a good law. Most people get credit cards and are in debt before they finish their first year in college." While others are strongly opposed like Todd VanDuzer, 19, a business major at Arizona State University (ASU) in Tempe. He says he has Capital One and Chase credit cards with no debt. He says, "I think such a law is ridiculous because it is further limiting our rights that we deserve as adults. If we can get tried in court as an adult and go to war, we deserve the same rights as an elder would.

Video and more after the Break

 The Federal Trade Commission has just updated and tightened rules protecting children’s online privacy. Existing restrictions prevent sites from collecting information from minors under the age of 13 without first obtaining parental consent. The new amendments apply that rule to mobile technology and tablets. Jon Leibowitz, the chairman of the trade commission, has called it a "landmark update of a seminal piece of legislation."

Youth Radio’s Malachi Segers has been following the legislation and is concerned that stronger protections could mean less internet freedom. He says, “it should be up to kids and their parents to decide how much they disclose online.”

The Direct Marketing Association and the Association of National Advertisers agrees that heavier restrictions could handicap online marketers' ability to tailor their advertisements to users’ online habits. The industry group’s lawyer, Mr. Stuart P. Ingis, tells the New York Times, “there might be overreaction that would limit just general third-party collection of data, which is very useful to businesses and consumers.”

Take a look at the final changes to the Children's Online Privacy Protection rule and tell us what you think. Here are some highlights:

Change the paramaters of "personal information” that cannot be collected without parental notice and consent, to include geolocation information, photographs, videos and audio files that contain a child’s image or voice.

Disallow kid-directed apps and websites to permit third parties to collect personal information from children through plug-ins without parental notice and consent;

Require website operators and online service providers to take reasonable steps to release children’s personal information only to companies that are capable of keeping it secure and confidential;

Expand the definition of a website or online service directed to children to include plug-ins or ad networks that have actual knowledge that they are collecting personal information through a child-directed website or online service.

Require sites and services that target children only as a secondary audience to differentiate among users, and provide notice and obtain parental consent only for those users who identify themselves as being younger than 13.

By: Emily Beaver

What’s age got to do with it?

Well, when it comes to what you pay for health insurance -- age is important.

Age-rating, or using age to determine how much someone pays for health insurance, has recently been getting a lot of press. And like much of the health care debate, age-rating is turning into a battle between the older and younger generations.

What’s the fight over? Changing age-rating practices could lead to lower insurance premiums for older adults, but higher premiums for younger adults.

Usually private insurance companies charge older adults more for health insurance than younger adults. As people age, they generally have more health problems and spend more on health care services. The system seems fair—the people who use the most services pay the highest premiums.

Well, not everyone agrees. Some people and groups that advocate for older adults say age-rating isn’t fair because people can’t help aging. And age isn’t the only indicator of health, they say. An active, 52-year-old may be healthier than a 30-year-old who lives on cheese fries, Diet Coke and cigarettes.

Lots of people are worried about how the economic crisis will affect youth in the future. But young people are already living out the effects of the downturn, right now. In this story, three young women describe how the shrinking economy is reshaping their personal and professional identities. You’ll hear first from Genai Powers.


Genai Powers:

What if your extracurricular activities weren’t just extra but a part of your academics too? New thinking on education intends to bring students' interests into the classroom. It's called Connected Learning and promotes the idea that students will excel in school if what they are learning is relevant to their lives, experiences, and passions. This plan is spelled out in a new report, by Mimi Ito, the research director of the Digital Media and Learning Hub at the University of Ca. Irvine.

While students would still learn core subjects like math and science, Connected Learning provides ways for students to link their classroom lessons to their lives outside the school. Ito says the objective of Connected Learning is to, “meet young people where they are in terms of their peer culture, their interest in popular culture, social media, rather than say you have to meet us where we are as adults.”

Ito uses the Harry Potter Alliance to demonstrate how Connected Learning’s can be effective. She says, “the HPA connects young people who are inspired by the civic virtues portrayed in the Harry Potter books, and want to apply them to the real world.” This fan network organizes over social media platforms (Facebook, Livestream, Youtube, Twitter) to spread awareness and solutions to issues like, equality, and human rights, and to support of charitable causes. Literacy has been a central focus of the group. Their annual book drive has brought 85,000 donations since 2009 and contributions have helped build a library for a charter school in NYC.