The winner of the BCS championship game won't be determined until Thursday night, but the loser's already decided. It's us.

Citigroup, which needed about $50 billion of our money to stay in business and has repaid less than half of it, is the proud sponsor of the Big Game. Maybe we should call it the Bailout Bowl or the Tournament of Financial Ruin.

AIG executives were forced to give up their junkets after getting bailout money, and auto execs had to ground their jets. Banks, though, are on a sponsorship binge, aligning college sports with failed finance.

In addition to the Bailout Bowl, Citi also underwrote the Rose Bowl — the granddaddy of Wall Street basket cases sponsored the Granddaddy of Them All.

Meanwhile, Capital One, which at least has managed to repay the $3.6 billion it got from the government, sponsored a bowl bearing its name. Then there's the GMAC Bowl, which I'd like to call the Subprime Showdown after its mortgage-issuing sponsor sopped up more than $16 billion in government aid and probably isn't done.

Of course, all bailed-out banks have continued to advertise, and the few millions that these banks spent on bowl games pales compared with the billions they borrowed from us. In fact, if they don't advertise, they may never have a hope of paying us back.

But sponsoring college bowl games isn't typical advertising. It's another example of finance companies worming their way into the lucrative college market, associating their names with institutions of higher learning.

Campuses have been fertile ground for banks and finance companies, especially those that issue credit and debit cards and underwrite private student loans.

For example, when my son started college in the fall, a major bank handled the school's meal card program and quickly suggested he open an account with them as well.

The account, of course, came with massive “overdraft protection” fees that, rather than simply refusing a transaction if he miscalculated his balance by a few dollars, instead turned a $2 soft drink into a $37 one. We closed the account after the bank told us it was impossible to remove the “service.”

His experiences are minor compared with the thousands of students who are being wooed into high-interest debt to pay for school. More than two-thirds of undergraduates from a four-year institution graduate with an average debt of more than $23,000, according to the Institute for College Access and Success.

While federally insured loans have historically carried reasonable, fixed interest rates — currently between about 3 percent and 6.8 percent— banks have used their campus access to develop a new and far risky practice: private student loans.

Unlike federally backed student loans, private loans typically come with variable interest rates, often sold with introductory rates that are lower than the fixed-rates on federal loans. But that's like the difference between buying a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage and a subprime loan with a balloon payment. Private lenders aren't even required to disclose the loan's interest rate before the borrower signs up, although that will change in February when new rules take effect.

“The label of ‘student loan' tends to confer a confidence in the quality of the product that isn't borne out,” said Lauren Asher, the institute's president. “Private student loans are an expensive, risky form of credit, like a credit card.”

According to independent market researcher Student Lending Analytics, one of the biggest underwriters of private student loans is — you guessed it — Citigroup.

Almost two-thirds of undergraduates with private loans haven't maxxed out their federal loan options, Asher said. In other words, a lot of students are getting suckered into paying more than they should for college.

By sponsoring the Bailout Bowl, Citi is using our money to exploit college students.

It doesn't matter who you root for or who wins the game. Taxpayers lose again.

Loren Steffy is the Chronicle's business columnist. His commentary appears Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Contact him at loren.steffy@chron.com. His blog is at http://blogs.chron.com/lorensteffy.