What Is a Good Credit Score for a College Student?

A credit score is a number based on your financial history representing how likely you are to repay a loan. Some jobs also check credit reports to measure an applicant’s responsibility. A traditional college student likely doesn’t have a long financial history and may not have a lot of credit.

You can build your credit in college. With a good credit score, it could be easier to get your first car or credit card.

A good credit score for a college student is 670 or higher. Credit rating agencies generate credit scores. They range from 300 to 850 with the following classifications:

Scores are based on your history of using credit and your use of your current line of credit.

Payment history is the biggest factor affecting credit scores. Lenders want to make sure that a loan is repaid, so they look to your history of paying back loans. They use this evidence to show your history of meeting financial obligations.

The length of your credit history shows that you’ve been financially responsible over time. Typical elements in evaluating the length of your credit history include the age of your oldest credit account, your newest credit account, and the average age of all accounts. Longer credit histories typically receive better scores.

Credit utilization represents how much of your available revolving credit you’re using. They usually divide the amount of credit you currently use by the amount of credit available to you. People who rely too much on credit may get in financial trouble, so using too much of your available credit can damage your score. The common recommendation is to keep your credit utilization ratio below 30%.

A mix of different types of credit, like car loans, school loans, credit cards, and mortgages, can help boost a credit rating. A diverse range of credit signals to lenders that you can handle a wide variety of financial situations. Credit mix only accounts for 10% of your total score, so taking out a loan to improve your credit is not advisable.

Credit agencies check the number of credit accounts you’ve opened. New credit accounts also often make hard inquiries into your credit score when you make an application. A large number of accounts, or frequent inquiries, are damaging to a credit score.

Checking your credit score is easy. For students with a bank account or a credit card, their associated apps often have a credit check feature. There are also many free apps and websites that help you check your credit score.

Students can also go directly to the website of a credit rating agency. For individual borrowers, the most important score would be your FICO score. It is used by most lenders and credit card companies when requesting credit. You can request your FICO score directly from the Fair Isaac Corporation website by paying a fee.

Note that none of these methods are “hard inquiries” that will damage your credit score.

According to Credit Karma, the average credit score of people aged 18-24 is 630, which is lower than the average credit score of 714 for all ages. While this is considered a ‘fair’ credit score, students should consider their options to try to boost it to ‘good’ by the time they graduate, which can aid in job hunting, mortgage application, and financial management for any future education they pursue.

A good credit score for college students — and for anyone — would be anything 670 or over. Anything over 739 is considered ‘very good,’ and 800 or higher is considered ‘excellent.’ However, students with scores lower than 670 shouldn’t feel discouraged. Many students have no credit history, and college is a great time to start building credit. Every card or loan payment made on time will continue to raise your score.

At 18, you’re likely ahead of the curve if you have any credit established. Like anyone, a score of 670 or above is considered ‘good.’ At 18, it might be a good time to start applying for a student credit card, look into becoming an authorized user on a parent’s card, and consider getting a part-time or work-study job to pay off loans while you’re in school.

A score of 670 or above is considered a ‘good’ credit score. By 19, many students have gotten used to college and have had their first student credit card for a while. If you don’t, that’s alright — now is still a great time to get one. If you can, you may want to consider buying or leasing a car to diversify your credit. Check to make sure you aren’t overdoing your credit utilization.