The brazen corruption and depravity here is really quite astounding...

Gifts and payoffs to universities and their officials by student lenders were far more pervasive than had been disclosed and in some cases were demanded by university officials themselves in exchange for promoting lenders to students, according to a Senate report on the student loan industry issued yesterday.

The report, released by Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts and chairman of the Education Committee, drew new colleges into the loan scandal. It also revealed an array of aggressive marketing practices by lenders, many of which, the report suggested, were unethical and possibly illegal because they involved quid pro quos.

“It is clear that the problem is systemic and cannot be isolated to a few ‘problem’ lenders or schools,” the report concluded.

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June 15, 2007

Report Details Deals in Student Loan Industry

By KAREN W. ARENSON and DIANA JEAN SCHEMO

www.nytimes.com/2007/06/15/washington/15loans.html

Gifts and payoffs to universities and their officials by student lenders were far more pervasive than had been disclosed and in some cases were demanded by university officials themselves in exchange for promoting lenders to students, according to a Senate report on the student loan industry issued yesterday.