College students are graduating with more than their degrees.

The average undergraduate has more than $2,000 in credit card debt.

Jalitza Poveda, a junior at John Jay College in New York, said she learned her lesson the hard way and cut up her card.

"It was horrible," said Poveda. "I went over the balance and I had to pay that off and it was tremendous. It was really expensive, so I don't use my credit card anymore."

But even a student smart enough for college may not be credit card savvy and may fall for the first freebie.

"Free T-shirt, free whatever. It's always the market go buy, buy, buy," said Scott Bilker of Debtsmart.com. "They never get a letter in the mail saying, 'You might be charging too much, you should probably pay this off.'"

Bilker writes about credit card management for a living and said most college students don't pay as they go.

"Sixty percent of college students do not pay off each month, so they have a very high balance at a very high rate and they don't understand how much that is costing them," said Bilker.

Even before kids get to college, they have enormous spending power. About 31 million teens spend billions of dollars a year and a lot of it is online.

Credit card issuers are now targeting a younger customer and are developing products for children as young as 13 years old.

"Our primary product for ages 13 to17 is what we call the 'Visa Buxx card,'" said Rhonda Bentz, of Visa USA. "Visa Buxx is not a credit card. It is what we call a prepaid reloadable card, which means the parent who has to apply for the card can load the card anytime day or night."

Even cards said to be for those 18 years and older have kid appeal.

"Certainly, students shouldn't have credit cards until they have knowledge how to use a credit card," said Daryl Weinstein of the N.Y. Financial Literacy Coalition. "I would say that of any age."

The N.Y. Financial Literacy Coalition promotes and develops financial education in high schools.

Student Victoria Ilano said she has already received numerous credit card offers.

"Yes, I look at them and read them to see what they are all about, but I don't really sign up for it," said Ilano.

"Long before they hand their children the plastic equivalent of money, parents should teach them about it," said Mari McQueen, a senior editor at Consumer Reports.

"Children should have a good grounding in the basics of credit and saving and personal finances before they ever get a card because they can do a lot of damage with it," said McQueen.

Some industry research shows one in five high school students has a credit card.

Debit or prepaid cards are growing in popularity, even among college students, because it's easier to limit spending.