College students from across the country are back in school. Many of them cannot afford the sky-high cost of college without loans. As a result, countless students are going to spend decades after they graduate paying off enormous debts to student loan companies. Just as the right degree presents a student with new opportunities, the wrong loan harmfully restricts where their education can take them. With the stakes so high, we need to make sure students can easily choose the loans that are right for them, and are protected by their schools and government from unfair lending deals. Two-thirds of all students leave college with loan debts. Even a quarter-of-a-percent difference in the interest rate on a student loan can impact a graduate's debt load for years. Although previous generations graduated with only a few thousand dollars of debt, students are now leaving school with what can only be described as an education mortgage — debt they spend decades paying off. When faced with a decision that can cost them so dearly, it is vital that students and their families find the best loan terms and rates. Unfortunately, the $85 billion lending industry has faced minimal regulatory oversight. This has allowed problematic financial ties between private lenders and higher-education institutions to flourish. Confronted by a marketplace rife with conflicts and kickbacks, students are struggling to find lenders that are best for them. An investigation conducted by my office in New York exposed conflicts of interest at schools and lenders across the country, and we continue to uncover new dimensions of this widespread scandal. In August, we began examining relationships between college athletic departments at Division I schools and a student-loan provider to see if the departments were promoting specific loans to students in exchange for payments. Just before that, we discovered alumni associations at many schools, including the University of Arizona, were given various perks to steer their recent graduates toward the second-largest loan consolidator in the country. Before our investigation, students trusted their schools to such an extent that nine out of 10 student borrowers chose to take a loan from a school-recommended lender. Regrettably, in some cases lenders took advantage of this trust and did whatever they could to get on a college's list of "preferred" lenders, whether that involved giving kickbacks to a school, paying financial-aid officers or providing school officials with trips and gifts. After uncovering these illegal activities, my office persuaded many lenders and schools to change course. To date, 26 schools and 10 major loan companies — including the nation's six largest lenders — have adopted a code of conduct developed by my office that prohibits kickbacks and other improper practices. Earlier this year, New York state unanimously passed a law based on our code of conduct to ensure that every student at every school across the state is protected. A similar bill that would safeguard working- and middle-class families nationwide is now working its way through Congress. I urge lawmakers to pass the final version of this new law and give all college-bound students and their families the rights and protections they deserve. Without this legislation, the integrity of our higher-education system is in jeopardy. Students throughout the country deserve to have the law on their side. A college degree should be a student's chance to invest in their future, not an opportunity for lenders to profit at their expense.
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