BY OLIVIA WINSLOW
Newsday
December 11, 2007
Congressman Peter King, Seaford HS principal Michael Ragon, and Atty. Gen. Andrew Cuomo. News conference with NY State Atty. Gen. Andrew Cuomo and Congressman Peter King (R-Seaford) discuss college loan issues with high school seniors that are preparing for college. (Newsday / Alan Raia, Newsday / Alan Raia / December 10, 2007)
New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo visited Seaford High School yesterday with Rep. Peter King and urged students to understand their rights under a new state law before signing up for thousands of dollars in college loans.
Cuomo - in his second appearance at a Long Island high school since the passage in May of the Student Lending Accountability, Transparency and Enforcement Act law, which bars revenue sharing and gifts between colleges and lenders - briefly outlined his office's 2007 investigation of the $85-billion student loan industry. He told about 50 history and public policy students, who are seniors, about having found scores of arrangements of colleges pocketing money from student loan providers by "steering" students to those lenders.
Cuomo, who has been visiting high schools across the state, said students were shortchanged because 90 percent of them took out loans from their colleges' "preferred lenders," not necessarily with any regard for whether the loan's terms and interest rates were best for them.
"The schools were getting a kickback or a commission from those lenders, so the school preferred you going to that lender," Cuomo said. "And who do you think wound up paying the commission? Students. And nobody knew. And this was happening all across the country."
The students received laminated cards from Cuomo's office that outlined the "Student Bill of Rights" contained in New York's law. The card informs students, for example, that they have the right to unbiased advice about student loans, to know what criteria a college uses to select preferred lenders, to know what interest rate will be charged before borrowing and to know whether benefits and discounts will continue if the loan is sold.
There is also a list of questions on the card that Cuomo urged students to use when meeting with lenders.
The Student Bill of Rights will only work, Cuomo said, "if you understand your rights."
The next step, said Cuomo, a Democrat, is national legislation to protect students, and he praised King, a Republican, for his advocacy.
King said the bill passed the House of Representatives in May and is now before the Senate, where it has undergone changes. He said that while there is broad consensus on the bill, there is a need for vigilance to make sure the measure is not ousted in last-minute politicking. He hoped for passage early next year.
Christina Goll, 17, hoped loans would not be part of her future.
"If I had to, I would, but I wouldn't want to spend the rest of my life paying it back," she said.
Copyright © 2007, Newsday Inc.
