More students are choosing plastic over paper this year. This isn’t a checkout-bagging question or an anti-green trend — it’s about credit.

Junior Alessandra Portolesi, like other college students, is swiping cards over counting cash.

 During the school year, she said she rarely keeps cash in her wallet and instead uses her credit card for expenses such as textbooks, Internet and cable.

Portolesi, a business administration major with a concentration in management and minor in economics, uses four credit cards. She said one benefit of having credit available is the convenience.

“Sometimes I don’t have cash, but I know that I will in a week or two weeks,” she said. “The fact that I am able to borrow money for such a temporary time and pay it back and not get penalized helps.”

Portolesi is responsible for paying off all cards except one, which is under her mother’s name. Two of Portolesi’s cards are retail credit cards from Nordstrom’s and Macy’s. One is under her name and the other is under her mother’s, with Portolesi listed as an authorized user.

According to a Sallie Mae national study published in 2009, 84 percent of polled undergraduates have at least one credit card, compared with 76 percent in 2004.

The report said students who used credit cards to pay for direct education expenses said they charged an estimated $2,200 — more than double 2004’s average of $942. The most common direct education expenses are textbooks, school supplies and commuter costs.

Patricia Nash Christel, spokeswoman for Sallie Mae, said this is the highest number of students using credit cards recorded by Sallie Mae.      

“Given what we know about the convenience credit cards offer, especially as people are using purchases online, I would imagine that [credit] will continue to be a prevalent part of [students’] financial habits,” Nash Christel said.

Michael McCall, professor of marketing, said students are now using credit cards to pay for expenses partly because they feel better with transactions away from cash.

“College students are becoming more and more comfortable using credit,” McCall said.

However, he thinks students in college do not need to have a credit card because if credit is used irresponsibly, problems may arise.

Junior Samantha Kaufman has had a credit card since her senior year of high school and charges about five purchases a month. While she now pays off her bills regularly, she said she understands how easy it is to forget about the bill.

“Be aware of what you spend because you don’t want to get yourself into debt,” Kaufman said.

She was once charged a $39 late fee and said she learned from her mistake.

Sallie Mae reported that 82 percent of polled students carried balances and incurred finance charges each month. Only 17 percent said they regularly paid off all cards each month, and another one percent had parents, a spouse or other family members paying the bill.

The federal government passed the Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2009 last May to help students avoid debt through minimizing credit card companies’’ access to students.

CARD limits the amount of advertising credit card companies can do on colleges campuses.

The legislation also states that anyone under 21 has to be an authorized user on a parent’s account or have a co-signer unless the person can show proof of adequate income.

Rep. Maurice Hinchey, D-N.Y., representative of New York state’s 22nd District — including Ithaca ­— voted for the act. Jeff Lieberson, spokesman for the congressman, said the legislation will prevent credit card companies from exercising power over credit users.

 “Credit card companies for too long have been taking advantage of Americans with tricky gimmicks and exorbitantly high interest rates,” Lieberson said.

He said college students, who usually possess little income, will particularly benefit from the legislation.

“This bill is meant to make the cards more accountable to their users,” Lieberson said. “It’s protecting college students.”

Josh Jones, manager of Young Adult Programs at the Credit Union National Association, said if a student has the financial stability to keep up with the balance and responsibility, a credit card can be valuable for creating a good credit score and for education.

“The only real way you are going to learn [about credit] is by doing it,” Jones said.

Sophomore Joe Wilkens signed up for a credit card this summer to build his credit. He said he thought a student card with his bank, HSBC, would make bill payments easier.

Wilkens pays the credit bills through his bank with summer savings and his current income. He said he has learned a lot about the billing process

“It’s teaching me to be punctual about making payments,” Wilkens said.

Jones said students should learn about their credit history.

“Credit history is important because of a number of factors, not only the ability to acquire loans and financial services later in life, but also the ability to get a job,” Jones said.

He said employers are now looking at past credit reports to see if an applicant is in good standing, especially if the employee will be handling money at the job.

McCall said the key to credit card use is knowledge.

“You need to learn how to use it and how to use it properly,” McCall said.