CaliforniaWatch has an article today about deals between credit card companies and universities which give the card offerers exclusive rights to mailing lists. The article is based on data released annually by the Federal Reserve.
It appears that in the case of UCLA, the deal is with the UCLA Alumni Association and not UCLA itself. In 2010, the Association received $733,318 based on 26,505. The contract indicates that the card issuer has access to “members” defined as follows:
"Member" means alumni, fans, ticket holders or supporters of the University of California, Los Angeles Athletic Department ("UCLA Athletic Department") and/or other potential participants mutually agreed to by UCLAAA and MBNA America.
It appears that private universities may make these deals directly and collect the revenue. (USC got $1.5 million.) Public universities do not make these deals and leave it to their alumni groups to do so. Whether there is some prohibition on public universities making such arrangements is not indicated in the article.
The CaliforniaWatch article is at http://californiawatch.org/dailyreport/state-colleges-alumni-groups-reap-66m-credit-card-royalties-12429
The Federal Reserve database is at http://www.federalreserve.gov/collegecreditcardagreements/Search2010.aspx
The contract with the UCLA Alumni Association is at http://www.federalreserve.gov/CreditCardAgreementsContent/CollegeAgreement_1902.pdf
Before you rush out for your credit card and get into debt, maybe you should ask Mom:
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