STUDENT LIFE

The New America Foundation's Higher Ed Watch Project was the first to uncover and publicize illegal payoffs from student loan banks to college financial aid officials. When we discovered that several financial aid directors at major universities and a Department of Education official owned and sold a significant amount of student loan company stock, we became suspicious. Our subsequent investigation and those of others revealed a series of payoffs, kickbacks, and luxury gifts to aid officials, thus compromising college-student relationships. Supposedly impartial intermediaries in the federal financial aid system were operating with substantial personal conflicts of interest.

This page contains information about our investigation and the fallout in the financial aid world, including 10 firings and resignations, hundreds of settlements with state Attorney Generals, and new federal legislation. Below is a chronology of important news articles and opinion pieces, short summaries of valuable investigative stories, and links to some of our sources.