Banks vie for lucrative student business

Frank Claus knows a thing or two about college students' banking habits.

In the late 1970s, Claus -- associate vice president for finance at Student Financial Services -- witnessed a frenzy as ATMs first appeared on Penn's campus.

"We had transactions every 54 seconds on those ATMs," Claus said. "That was quite a revolution."

More than a quarter-century later, that revolution is still changing the way students think about banking and, to an even greater degree, the way banks think about students.

With ATMs and Internet banking becoming more popular, banks are competing more to attract undergraduates as potential customers -- a push that has been noticeable on campus in recent weeks.

"College students are very valuable because typically this is when an individual is beginning to make choices about their banking partners," said Alan Trivilino, PNC Bank's senior vice president for marketing.

"Our goal is to really put our best foot forward and really make banking easy for college students, not only in the short term, but even as they graduate and move on. ... We hopefully can gain a relationship for life," Trivilino said.

The promotions range from PNC's free Ben and Jerry's ice cream day to account perks like free services and online banking capabilities.

Trivilino said such promotions, including his own company's free checking and auto-alert balance notification, are evidence of the increased competition among banks to sign up students.

"College students are winning and benefiting because there are more banks competing for their business," Trivilino said.

College freshman Meaghan Brown said she decided to get her own Wachovia account before college to learn about monetary responsibility.

"It's smart for students to have bank accounts because it teaches them money management, and it's good to be on your own, not dependent," Brown said.

Banks and credit-card companies hounded College sophomore Alex Flamm with solicitations over the phone and in the mail.

"They bombarded me with a ton of that stuff," Flamm said.

Flamm said he ended up choosing PNC because of its many ATMs on campus and its option to link the bank account to the student PennCard. He plans on staying with PNC after college because of all the branches near his home in Short Hills, N.J.

Tom Kelly, a spokesman for JPMorgan Chase, said banks view college students as potential long-term customers.

"Students may well remember what company gave them their first credit card," Kelly said. "It's a chance to build a relationship, and that student may be a customer for the next 60 years."

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