Several athletic departments being investigated by New York Attorney General

by Glenn Logan on Aug 1, 2007 6:22 PM EDT in Kentucky Wildcats News

According to this article over at CBS Sportsline, a number of major college athletic departments have received a subpoena duces tecum for documents related to deals between the athletic departments under investigation and Student Financial Services, Inc. Apparently, there is a question of whether the athletic departments were receiving cash consideration (i.e. kickbacks) in return for recommending the company as a preferred lender for education-related loans.

Apparently, 39 40 separate universities have received subpoenas in the investigation. Andrew Cuomo (Mario's son) is the New York Attorney General running the investigation, and it is apparently an outgrowth of a broader probe of student loan providers and college administrators, which he claims have uncovered a "pattern of favoritism" for lenders who provided kickbacks, revenue sharing plans, trips, etc.

The schools in question are (according to the New York Office of the Attorney General press release):

Arkansas State University	Tulane University
Auburn University	University of Alabama-Birmingham
Bowling Green State University	UCLA
CAL State Sacramento	UNC Greensboro
Central Michigan University	University of Central Florida
Colorado State University	University of Detroit Mercy
East Carolina University	University of Houston
Florida Atlantic University	University of Kansas
Georgetown University	University of Louisville
Georgia Tech	University of New Orleans
Georgia State University	University of North Alabama
Howard University	University of Oregon
Indiana State University	University of Pittsburgh
Marquette University	University of South Florida
Ohio University	University of Texas at San Antonio
Oregon State University	University of Texas El Paso
Rutgers University	University of Texas Pan American
Southern Illinois University	Wayne State University
Tennessee Tech	Wright State University
Texas Christian University	Youngstown State University

Keep in mind that a subpoena is neither proof nor accusation of guilt. Many a subpoena has been issued to an innocent party. But Cuomo thinks these schools have either information that implicates Student Financial Services, Inc., or possibly the athletic departments of the schools in question.

I am going to be closely following this story and updating this post as responses come in. This post will probably get bumped back to the front page periodically when it scrolls off.

BLOGOSPHERE UPDATES

Kyle King at Dawg Sports also blogs about this.

RESPONSE UPDATES

These will consist either of denials or acknowledgements of culpability, settlement announcements, or indictments. Non-information such as "We are cooperating with the probe" will be ignored.

Update [2007-8-6 9:47:8 by Truzenzuzex]:

Date	School	Comment
08/02/07	University of Detroit Mercy	Has not received any money to date from their agreement with UFS
08/02/07	Southern Illinois University	Says it did not consider company university endorsed.
08/02/07	UNC-Greensboro	University says "briefly had a contract with University Financial Services"
08/02/07	UTEP	UTEP "comfortable that we have not done anything that would harm our students in any way."
08/02/07	University of Kansas	University says investigation of athletic dept. is misguided
08/02/07	Ohio University	University says relationship with lender is "completely legitimate"
08/02/07	University of Oregon	University says it "does not recommend UFS in any way"
08/02/07	CAL State Sacramento	Says it did have an agreement, but did not "collect any funds" under it.
08/02/07	UCLA	University says it "does not have an agreement with that company"
08/03/07	Tennessee Tech	Tennessee Tech recently terminated contract with UFS. Sure that no one received kickbacks.
08/04/07	Florida Atlantic University	UFS provided names of recent HS graduates and $50 to FAU each time a student signed with them
08/03/07	University of North Alabama	UNA had deal with UFS to receive $75 per student loan referral. UNA says it never received any payment.
08/03/07	Youngstown State University	UFS paid YSU $2000 for advertising. No payment per referral.
08/03/07	Southern Illinois University	"No money ever changed hands." SIU says only service offered by UFS was loan consolidation. Paid SIU $10,000 annually.
08/03/07	Colorado State University	CSU had $15,000/year partnership with UFS. Contract called for $75/each completed loan application. No application fees received.
08/03/07	Wright State University	WSU gets $10,000/yr plus $75/student loan app after first 133 are received.
08/03/07	University of Kansas	Kansas sold media rights to Host Communications. Host Communications contracted with UFS for annual sponsorship.
08/03/07	Bowling Green State University	BGSU voided contract with UFS as soon as it was discovered, received $7,500 before voided.
08/02/07	University of New Orleans	UNO contracted with UFS between July 2006 and May 2007. Terminated because UNO believed "not in our students’ best interest to recommend one specific firm for student loan services,"
08/02/07	Arkansas State University	"We do not have a preferred provider. We do not recommend specific providers,"
08/01/07	Marquette University	MU had "minimal advertising agreement" with UFS