A hearing was held Tuesday in the state Assembly to investigate any possible unethical behavior between student loan providers and the UW System.
This issue is really about the university's service to our students and their families,"" said UW-System President Kevin Reilly at the hearing.
In May it was suspected that various UW System officials were accepting personal gifts and financial rewards from different loan providers, according to state Rep. Gordon Hintz, D-Oshkosh, member of the Assembly Committee on Colleges and Universities that held the hearing.
""For private lenders to become preferred lenders at universities, they're using inappropriate means,"" Hintz said.
The loan providers that gave financial rewards to university officials would be placed on the school's preferred lender list, even though they may not have offered the best possible loan packages for students, Hintz said.
""I wish there were no lender lists at all,"" said committee member state Rep. Jeff Smith, D-Eau Claire.
Hintz said there was no policy dealing with preferred lenders before the events earlier this year. The Assembly hearing Tuesday was to receive some sort of update from the UW System, according to Hintz.
In June, the UW Board of Regents passed Policy 13-5 in response to the alleged unethical behavior. The policy was the main item discussed at Tuesday's hearing.
The policy states that UW-System schools must maintain public transparency with all loan providers. Financial aid officers, according to the policy, may accept no gifts or solicitations.
This policy is similar to the Federal Student Loan Sunshine Act that is under revision right now in the U.S. Congress, according to Hintz. Both Policy 13-5 and the Sunshine Act address many of the same concerns about the ethical standards for loan officers said David Giroux, UW System spokesperson.
""We've implemented what we think is a very strong policy, we were one of the first universities in the nation to do so,"" Giroux said.
A university must list at least three lenders under the new state policy. A school's evaluation process for determining lenders must be made available to the public as well, according to the policy.
""Our aim in Wisconsin has been to get out ahead of these national efforts, and we have been,"" Reilly said, meaning that Policy 13-5 is intended to supplement the federal legislation.
