It’s not only credit cards that are dangerous to college kids’ financial health. The new wrinkle is targeting them for prepaid debit cards which carry hefty hidden fees. They not only are freely given away on campus, but also carry a perk of some kind, such as a free T-shirt.

In a recent issue of The Wall Street Journal, Mary Pilon warns that, although colleges have finally restricted the hawking of credit cards on campus, another kind of card is being pushed by financial-service companies like U.S. Bancorp and large chains like Wal-Mart. Facecard, from Meta Financial Group, promotes itself on Facebook as well as its own site Facecard.com The card allows users to swap money between friends online. Currently it is being promoted on 50 campuses.

It works like a debit cards, but it isn’t linked to a bank account. The companies make their money on hidden fees that are routinely charged for activation, for use at an ATM machine (in addition to whatever is charged by the bank), and even for a lack of transaction activity.

Wal-Mart’s entry is called the Student Money Card. It’s actually two cards (one is also issued to a parent, presumably to enable tracking of expenses). There is a charge of $7.46 to activate the two cards, and a $4.94 monthly fee that is waived if the account balance exceeds $1,000. (Obviously advantageous – but not to the student!)

Visa’s entry is called the BUXX card. It has a $15 enrollment fee, a $2.50 bank teller fee, and a $1.50 ATM fee. So far, it has been marketed to parents.

The biggest drawback is that none of this is a help to kids in learning to handle money and to live within their means. They’re still adolescents, and thankfully most of them have grown up expecting that the necessities do appear. For most, all the way through the 12th grade in school, numbers are important only for math class and for games. These cards cannot help them open their eyes enough so the numbers become real.