The financial aid directors at Columbia University, the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Southern California profited from selling stocks in a student loan company on the “preferred lender list” at each of the universities.

The revelations are the latest as the scope of NY Attorney General Andrew Cuomo’s investigation into the conflicts of interest between colleges and loan companies expands.

Students often do not comparison shop and rely heavily on the lender recommendations made by their schools.

Yesterday The National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators said it, “believes it would be inappropriate for a school to place a lender on a preferred lender list in exchange for shares of stock..” — BEN POPKEN

College Officers Profited by Sale of Lender Stock [NYT]

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