Tim Hendricks never wants to get a credit card. That makes him unusual for a college student, but a new credit card law enacted last week would give him plenty of company.

The Marian College sophomore knows he’s aiming for a lofty goal. But he’s watched his parents, both in the transportation industry, struggle with credit card debt through the economic slide after 9/11.

“We had just bought a huge house, they were living well beyond their means, and the credit card came to the rescue,” Hendricks said. “It was a Band-Aid, and the effects of that are starting to come out.”

He’s learned from them, but it hasn’t been easy for him to forgo plastic. Hendricks didn’t have the savings to buy a laptop for school and went his whole freshman year without one, something he says is like “trying to run without legs.”

But he figures if he doesn’t get a credit card, he can’t have credit card debt.

That’s the basic logic behind the sweeping credit card bill signed into law Friday by President Barack Obama. It includes a series of reforms designed to protect consumers, but no group will feel the effect more than young adults. The law prohibits companies from giving credit cards to anyone younger than 18; it also limits anyone younger than 21 to a single card unless a parent co-signs or the person proves he has the resources to cover the debt.

Although many college students understand the reasoning behind the law, they’re still trying to sort out how the law could affect them.

In a study by the U.S. PIRG, a consumer advocacy group, two-thirds of students reported having at least one credit card.

Purdue University junior Taylor Crane, a chemical engineering student, regularly swipes his credit card for small purchases: meals, snacks, sodas. Each month, he pays off the balance.

The pain comes at the start of each semester. That’s when Crane charges $500 to $700 for books and school supplies.

“Without a credit card, I don’t know how I’d get my books,” he said. “It would create a problem for me.”

Summer Carder said she manages to spend less than that on her two store credit cards. The Purdue junior uses them to build up her credit, charging items about once a month, putting $50 to $100 on them each time.

“I feel like I could handle it on my own,” Carder said. "But I think restrictions are good because that way your parents and guardians know what you’re doing, and it can help you learn how to manage your credit cards well.

“And for those who aren’t responsible, it’s good to have those restrictions.”

In the PIRG study, a quarter of the students had paid a late fee, and 15 percent had paid an over-the-limit fee. Six percent had had a card canceled for delinquency.

But part-time jobs, help from parents, and student loans are not always enough to cover some students’ expenses, Purdue students said. Sophomores Morgan Butler and Paige Burgett said their lives would change drastically if their plastic were restricted through sharp fees or reduced credit limits.

“That is how I pay for everything: food, books, gas, going out,” Butler said. “I put it all on my card.”

But with their ability to have credit cards limited, young adults will be less likely to fall prey to credit card practices, said Sugato Chakravarty, professor and head of the Department of Consumer Sciences and Retailing at Purdue University.

“The under-21 population is vulnerable,” Chakravarty said. "They don’t think that far ahead. They live for the moment . . . they feel invincible, like ‘It can’t happen to me.’ "

That confidence gets students in trouble. Chakravarty said a major problem for students is late payments, which give credit card companies the opportunity to jack up interest rates to 25 percent or 30 percent.

But the issue is not so simple for those who will be affected by the bill. Even with his dislike of credit cards, Hendricks, the Marian sophomore, concedes that 18-year-olds are legal adults, and being without an emergency credit card or a way to make big purchases can be impractical.

Gretchen Bales, an administrative coordinator in the Department of Family and Consumer Sciences at Ball State, said the age restrictions will help the students she often sees struggling to make minimum payments.

Although it’s hard for younger students to realize just what they’re getting into, she said, it’s something they’ll understand when they’re older.

“Students who are 22 or 25, seniors or grad students, they almost laugh and think it’s obscene,” Bales said. “Why would someone give an 18-year-old $10,000 in unsecured credit?”