More Missouri colleges sign student loan code

leven public and private colleges in Missouri have agreed to a code of conduct regarding student loans, Attorney General Jay Nixon said Wednesday.

Nixon reached a similar agreement in April with Washington University in St. Louis and says more schools could follow. The University of Missouri's four-campus system has not signed on yet, but his office said it's working with all schools around the state.

The agreements follow a national investigation led by New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo into loan arrangements that he says favored banks and schools over students.

The idea of the code is to protect students from kickbacks lenders pay to colleges in exchange for steering students their way.

"Students and their families may feel unempowered as consumers, particularly if they are steered to certain lenders without receiving enough information to make the choices that are most appropriate," Nixon said in a written statement.

Under the code, schools are to end or avoid revenue-sharing agreements with lenders and bar employees from being paid by lenders.

Washington University ended a revenue-sharing agreement with Education Finance Partners of California in 2006 that would have provided money for the university if it led more students to the company, Nixon said. The university said it never received payments. ...

•	More Missouri colleges sign student loan code Associated Press, Wednesday, June 20, 2007 Byline: Kelly Wiese, Associated Press Writer

	Story also ran in 5 others:  MSN Money, Forbes, Houston Chronicle, News-Leader.com (MO) and AFX.COM