@techmom99 stated why students need credit histories.
My son recently leased an apt in NYC and I did not need to co-sign because he has a solid credit history after years of having a card on a couple of my accounts and then two CCs of his own. He replaced the student card with an ‘adult’ card that offers double points on all purchases, and now only uses the newer card.
We treat CCs as debit cards. I had each of my children set up autopay out of their checking account for the full amount of the bill. One ‘bounced’ a payment only once, not realizing that the checking account & savings account balances were only linked online. He hasn’t made that mistake since.