THE UNIVERSITY DARRY KANSAN
THURSDAY, APRIL 12, 2007
NEWS
7A
Windy winter weather
Eric Young/ASSOCIATED PRESS
A gull struggles to fly as waves driven by wind gusts over 40 miles per hour crash into the breakwater and harbor lighthouse in Manitowoc, Wis., on Wednesday. Manitowoc and much of eastern and southern Wisconsin are forecast to receive 5-7 inches of snow today.
>> STUDENT LOANS
Deal stops lenders from offering perks
BY KAREN MATTHEWS ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK — The nation's largest student loan provider will stop offering perks like trips to exotic locations to college employees as part of a settlement announced Wednesday in a widening probe of the student loan industry.
SLM Corp., commonly known as Sallie Mae, also agreed to pay $2 million into a fund to educate students and parents about the financial aid industry, and it will adopt a code of conduct created by New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, who is heading the probe.
Cuomo said the expanding investigation of the $85 billion student loan industry has found numerous arrangements that benefited schools and lenders at the expense of students. Investigators say lenders have provided all-expense-paid trips to exotic locations for college financial aid officers who then directed students to the lenders.
Sallie Mae CEO Tim Fitzpatrick said in a statement Wednesday, "We are please that Attorney General Cuomo has recognized Sallie Mae's leadership in the student loan industry and our ethical market practices
"Our position is very simple," Cuomo said. "Loan decisions should be made in the best interest of the students, and not the best interest of the school."
with students and schools."
Investigators found that many colleges have established "preferred lender" lists and entered into revenue sharing and other financial arrangements with those lenders. Some colleges have "exclusive" preferred lender agreements with the companies.
"There is a spectrum of what
we consider to be deceptive and illegal practices, from financial incentives that go back to the schools to financial incentives to financial aid officers, to perks to financial aid officers, to employees of lenders being
stationed at schools." Cuomo said at his Manhattan office.
"Loan decisions should be made in the best interest of the students, and not in the best interest of the school."
Reston, Va.-based Sallie Mae, which serves almost 10 million borrowers and has relationships with over 5,600 schools, also agreed to stop running call centers or providing other staffing for college financial aid offices and stop paying financial aid officers for serving on advisory boards.
The newly established code of conduct prohibits revenue sharing between lenders and schools, mandates disclosure of relationships between colleges and lenders, sets restrictions on how lenders are chosen for school "preferred lender" lists, and bans gifts or trips to university employees from lenders.
Sallie Mae is the second lender to agree to the code, which is aimed at making the loan process more transparent.
ANDREW CUOMO New York Attorney General
Citigroup Inc.'s Citibank, which
does business at about 3,000 schools, last week agreed to donate $2 million to the same fund as part of a settlement with the attorney general's office.
So far, six schools — the University of Pennsylvania.
New York University, Syracuse University, Fordham University, Long Island University and St. John's University have agreed to reimburse students a total of $3.27 million for inflated loan prices caused by revenue sharing agreements, Cuomo said.
four-year State University of New York campuses and St. Lawrence University, also agreed to abide by the code of conduct.
Within the past week, six financial aid officers at various schools and a federal Department of Education official were placed on leave after Cuomo's office said they received stock, consulting fees or other compensation from Student Loan Xpress. The company was acquired by CIT Group Inc. in 2005.
Formerly known as the Raintree Run!
On Wednesday, officials said the Pentagon is thinking about lengthening tours of duty for all active-duty Army units in Iraq to 15 months instead of 12.
The size and number of bonuses have grown as officials scrambled to meet the demand for troops on the battlefields in Iraq and Afghanistan and reverse shortfalls in the number of National Guard and Reserve soldiers willing to sign on for multiple tours.
Those schools, along with all 29
ting strains on the defense budget, already strapped by the massive costs of waging war and equipping and caring for a modern military.
Besides underscoring the extraordinary steps the Pentagon must take to maintain fighting forces, the rise in costs for re-enlistment incentives is put-
"I believe the whole issue of the affordability of the volunteer force is something we need to look at," said Arnold Punaro, who heads an independent panel established by Congress to study the National Guard and Reserves.
"It helps a lot of guys out," said Sgt. 1st Class Richard Doran, who re-enlisted last late year during his tour in Iraq. "And I think it does sway some of the decisions to stay in when guys are on the fence trying to decide."
The soaring budget for re-enlistment bonuses — particularly for the Guard and Reserves, which have seen the most dramatic cost increases — has prompted some observers to question whether the country can still afford its volunteer force.
The bonuses can range from a few thousand dollars to as much as $150,000 for very senior special forces soldiers who re-enlist for six years. All told, the Army and Marines spent $1.03 billion for re-enlistment payments last year, compared with $174 million in 2003, the year the war in Iraq began.
The Associated Press compiled and analyzed the budget figures from the military services for this story.
BY LOLITA C. BALDOR ASSOCIATED PRESS
Soldier bonuses increased by $1 billion last year
The higher bonuses come as support for the war continues to wane both in Congress and with the American public. That decline is fueling concerns that more soldiers will leave the military under pressure from families who fear the rising death toll and are weary of the lengthy and repeated overseas deployments. The Iraq war has claimed the lives of at least 3,280 U.S. troops to date.
Sunday April 15, 2007
Coffin Sports Complex • Haskell Indian Nations University •
23rd and Learned
>> WAR IN IRAQ
The incentives — including tax-free payments for those who re-enlist while in the war zone have jumped nearly sixfold since 2003, the year the war in Iraq began.
Starting Times:
• Register up until race day
8:00 a.m. 1/2 Marathon Run • Race day entry ends @ 7:30 a.m.
8:05 a.m. 5k Run • Entries received after april 4th
10:30 a.m. 1 mile Fun Run/Walk not guaranteed a T-shirt.
*to register or volunteer go to:
www.lawrencehalfmarathon.com
New half marathon course runs...
WASHINGTON — The Pentagon poured more than $1 billion into bonuses last year to keep soldiers and Marines in the military in the face of an unpopular war and battlefield deployments that are getting longer and more frequent.
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