In our current climate of high unemployment among recent college grads, one would think students would be much more careful about spending.

According to a report at Time’s Healthland Blog, some students are taking reckless spending to a whole new level.

The student-loan-debt crisis is massive. Americans owe more than $1 trillion in student loans, and according to a July report by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, $150 billion of these student loans are from private lenders, which means they often come with higher interest rates than federal loans and are almost impossible to shed in bankruptcy proceedings.

Nightmare stories about young adults struggling under mountains of student-loan debt appear in the media nearly every day. But how many college students are using their loans only for necessities? How many are taking out more money than they need and blowing it on silly stuff that they’ll be paying off for years or even decades to come?

I conducted some informal research to determine how endemic the misuse of loans really is. I tapped my kids as well as other recent college graduates, friends and co-workers, and I was stunned at how pervasive this seems. When I asked my stepson, who graduated last winter, if he knew of kids using their student loans for non-school-related purchases, his response was, “Don’t even get me started.”

First, he told me about a family friend who, a few months ago when she was a junior in college, used her student-loan money to buy a used car. I almost flipped. Didn’t she realize this means she’ll be paying that car off — at an interest rate almost twice as high as a typical auto loan — long after it breaks down?

My colleague Meghan, also a recent grad, mentioned classmates who had purchased flat-screen TVs, sound systems and trendy decor for their dorm rooms. I heard from various people about kids using student loans to pay for expensive spring-break trips, clothes and, a common refrain, “partying.” These students will be paying high interest rates for purchases they probably won’t even remember in five years.