Banks Paying Colleges For Students Who Rack Up Credit Card Debt

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Source: Huffington Post

Some of the nation's largest and most elite universities stand to gain millions of dollars from selling the names and addresses of students and alumni to credit card companies while granting the companies special access to school events, the Huffington Post Investigative Fund has found.

The schools and their alumni associations are entitled to receive payments that multiply as students use their cards. Some colleges can receive bonuses when students incur debt.

The little-known agreements have enriched schools and some banks at a time when young women and men already are borrowing at record levels, raising questions about whether such collegiate and corporate alliances are in the best interests of students.

"The fact that schools are getting paid for students to rack up debt is a disgrace," said congressman Patrick Murphy, a Pennsylvania Democrat and former professor at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. He said that banks' payments to schools amount to "kickbacks."

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/08/banks-paying-colleges-for_n_604109.html