Over the past five years I’ve had the pleasure to visit more than 30 colleges, several of which I went back to multiple times. I’ve also spoken to hundreds of students about topics such as credit cards, careers, financial aid, car buying, investing and entrepreneurship. Over that period of time I’ve noticed a few things that I feel are worth sharing.

1) Many students want to start investing but they’re not sure how. This observation seems to hold no matter how liberal or conservative a campus tends to be. We get approached by all types of students wanting to know more about investing and the majority of those same students are NOT business majors as some might expect. Unfortunately, too many young adults still believe the old myth that you need a lot of money to start investing. I try to tell them that the key is to start investing early so they can use their youth to their advantage. Don’t make the same mistake I made and wait until you’re 27 or you’ll be playing catch up for a long time. Find an experienced investor to guide you then invest as much as you can afford each month.

2) Campus vendors are like the New York Yankees — you either love them or you hate them. We typically get two types of reactions whenever we set up our Young Money tent on campus for an event. Half the students are eager to ask questions about the magazine or to get free samples of whatever chotskies we’re giving away that day. The other half of the students runs past our table with their heads down and make a determined effort to avoid any eye contact.

Here’s my theory on why those two groups of students are so different. All students love to get free stuff so the first group is drawn by both their natural curiosity and their desire to get something for free. Many vendors realize this too so they exploit students by having them sign up for a charge account in exchange for a free T-shirt or a chance to win a prize. However, too many of those same students don’t know how to manage their credit properly so they wind up getting in financial trouble. Which brings me to the second group of students, those who fear or hate campus vendors.

College students who fall into the second category are often tired of being marketed to by campus vendors. They assume that Young Money is just like all the other vendors who are trying to get them to sign up for a credit card, cell phone plan, etc. We never try to sell anything on campus but those students don’t know that. Occasionally one of these market-savvy students does come up to our table and asks “I don’t have to sign up for anything to get this stuff?” The funny thing is that back when I was a student I probably was just as suspicious of all campus vendors and now I’ve become one of them! So to all my fellow “campus vendor haters” I say, “Don’t be afraid of Young Money if you see us at your school. We’re only there to hand out free stuff!”

3. Students are more money smart than they get credit for. I’m sure you’re heard all the media stories about how today’s college graduates are doomed to suffer a life of low wages and heavy debts. I get angry about this subject because I think if you keep telling people that they are bound to fail, then you’re setting them up to do just that. I’m glad the new graduates I speak to are not falling for that lie. In fact, I am very excited about the new crop of young professionals that is entering the workforce. The majority of the ones I meet are incredibly ambitious, highly tech-savvy and very eager to learn new things. I’m also amazed by how many students I meet who are either interested in starting their own business or have already done so.

The “work hard, play hard” mentality is very much alive on college campuses nationwide. Sure, I still come across some stubborn students who say ” I don’t need to read your magazine because I’m not an economics major.” I usually remind them that they still spend money on a daily basis and that everyone has to deal with personal finance issues regardless of their major. I do recognize that credit card and student loan debt are legitimate problems for many graduating students. However, those problems can be overcome over time. For example, Young Money columnist Sanyika Calloway Boyce graduated college with $15,000 in unsecured debt but now she’s debt free and speaks to thousands of students each year about how to improve their finances.