USC financial aid chief suspended in stocks probe
Investigation raises questions about official's ties to student loan company.
Dan Loeterman
Issue date: 4/6/07 Section: News
- Page 1 of 1
USC placed its financial aid director on leave as it investigates her financial ties to a lending company the university recommends to students.
The university's actions come a day after the New York state attorney general wrote in a letter to USC that Catherine Thomas previously owned 1,500 shares of Education Lending Group, the parent company of Student Loan Xpress, which USC listed as a preferred lender.
"Thomas ... has been placed on paid administrative leave pending the completion of an internal review of issues raised by the New York state attorney general," James Grant, director of media relations, wrote in a statement.
The top financial aid officers at the University of Texas and Columbia University also held stock in Student Loan Xpress, The Associated Press reported Wednesday. At Columbia, the officer, David Charlow, sold his stock for a profit of $100,000. It has not been disclosed whether Thomas profited off of her shares, which she sold in 2003, according to The New York Times.
Many students expressed outrage at the news about Thomas.
"I'm really pissed off," said Becky Christofferson, a freshman majoring in aerospace engineering whose tuition is completely funded by financial aid.
"This school has a ridiculous amount of money," she said. "I count fully on this office. As a freshman, you don't know that much about loans. You trust these people."
By Thursday afternoon students had started a Facebook group, "Petition Against Financial Aid Corruption," to protest Thomas' alleged conflict of interest.
Timothy Fehr, a sophomore majoring in international relations, said he started the group after he woke up and saw the story in the national news.
"If you get financial aid, to think that you could be paying a higher interest rate because (Thomas) got stock in the company is pretty disgusting," he said.
Grant did not specify when USC informed Thomas of her leave, but a secretary at the financial aid office said Thomas was at work as of Thursday morning, and that it was "just a normal day at work."
Grant also said he did not believe the financial aid process at USC will be irreparably harmed, but Christofferson made it clear that her trust in USC may be broken.
"You don't have much of a choice when you're dealing with these companies," she said. "(The financial aid office) is supposed to be the in between and help us not get into debt."
The university's actions come a day after the New York state attorney general wrote in a letter to USC that Catherine Thomas previously owned 1,500 shares of Education Lending Group, the parent company of Student Loan Xpress, which USC listed as a preferred lender.
"Thomas ... has been placed on paid administrative leave pending the completion of an internal review of issues raised by the New York state attorney general," James Grant, director of media relations, wrote in a statement.
The top financial aid officers at the University of Texas and Columbia University also held stock in Student Loan Xpress, The Associated Press reported Wednesday. At Columbia, the officer, David Charlow, sold his stock for a profit of $100,000. It has not been disclosed whether Thomas profited off of her shares, which she sold in 2003, according to The New York Times.
Many students expressed outrage at the news about Thomas.
"I'm really pissed off," said Becky Christofferson, a freshman majoring in aerospace engineering whose tuition is completely funded by financial aid.
"This school has a ridiculous amount of money," she said. "I count fully on this office. As a freshman, you don't know that much about loans. You trust these people."
By Thursday afternoon students had started a Facebook group, "Petition Against Financial Aid Corruption," to protest Thomas' alleged conflict of interest.
Timothy Fehr, a sophomore majoring in international relations, said he started the group after he woke up and saw the story in the national news.
"If you get financial aid, to think that you could be paying a higher interest rate because (Thomas) got stock in the company is pretty disgusting," he said.
Grant did not specify when USC informed Thomas of her leave, but a secretary at the financial aid office said Thomas was at work as of Thursday morning, and that it was "just a normal day at work."
Grant also said he did not believe the financial aid process at USC will be irreparably harmed, but Christofferson made it clear that her trust in USC may be broken.
"You don't have much of a choice when you're dealing with these companies," she said. "(The financial aid office) is supposed to be the in between and help us not get into debt."
Viewing Comments 1 - 8 of 15
joel
posted 4/06/07 @ 4:27 AM PST
Mr. Fehr should compare the interest rates and repayment benefits offered on his student loans to those being offered at other schools by the same lender before he gets disgusted. (Continued…)
trojanparent
posted 4/06/07 @ 4:40 AM PST
Sorry, but I have no sympathy for Catherine Thomas. My son was accepted by NYU Tisch Film School and USC Film School. He had his heart set on USC, but NYU without asking gave him a small merit scholarship (1,500) a year. (Continued…)
New Trojan Parent Fall 2007
posted 4/06/07 @ 4:46 PM PST
I anxiously await the financial aid package for my daughter's fall 2007 entry into USC. The balance the USCfinancial aid office needs is another option: Federal Direct Loans. (Continued…)
Ruth, Trojan Parent
posted 4/07/07 @ 9:27 AM PST
If the Duke lacrosse case taught us nothing less, it should have driven home the point that all of us are innocent until proven guilty. Since all the facts are not public in this case, it seems incredibly premature to be disgusted, untrusting and petty. (Continued…)
mbc
posted 4/08/07 @ 4:42 AM PST
When I was a senior in high school, my college choice was dictated entirely by who would give me enough money. I was deciding between USC and the University of Florida, and Florida was ponying up a lot more cash. (Continued…)
Trojan Grad+Parent
posted 4/08/07 @ 9:28 PM PST
I am happy to see that most responses to the allegations against Ms Thomas are logical, fair, unemotional and non vindictive. She must (repeat, must) be assumed to be innocent until proven guilty. (Continued…)
kathy
posted 4/09/07 @ 11:56 AM PST
Happy to see the positive & at least netural comments by posters. I also have to report that I was never, ever "steered" into any type of loans at USC. (Continued…)
Former USC Financial Aid Counselor
posted 4/09/07 @ 4:14 PM PST
I, too, am very pleased that CCT is receiving the benefit of the doubt from most of the comments here. When I first heard of this story, the last person in the world that I thought would be mixed up in this was CCT. (Continued…)
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