AUSTIN – The University of Texas at Austin reached an agreement on Friday (May 18) with the Office of Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott to adopt a code of conduct with regard to the operation of the Office of Student Financial Services.
The agreement with the Attorney General – “The Texas Higher Education Fair Lending Practices Agreement” – outlines a series of standards aimed at tightening student lending practices and acknowledges the voluntary internal investigation conducted by The UT System Office of General Counsel with the assistance of outside counsel into the operations of the university’s financial aid office. The agreement includes many provisions that are the subject of pending state and federal legislation and formalizes many practices that were recommended by the UT System's investigative report, which the university has already agreed to implement.
The UT System publicly released the report on May 14 with regard to conflict-of-interest allegations concerning Lawrence W. Burt, associate vice president and director of student financial services at the university. Burt was dismissed that same day by the university. The investigation determined that while the university neither entered into a revenue-sharing agreement nor received revenue from student loan lenders, Burt did violate university standards of conduct.
The agreement with the Texas Attorney General is online.
“We are pleased to enter into this agreement with the Texas Attorney General,” university President William Powers Jr., said. “This further represents our commitment to reassuring our students and their families of the credibility of our financial aid services at the university. As we bring in a new director for the Office of Student Financial Services, we look forward to having practices and procedures in place that will be a national model."
The UT System Office of General Counsel with the assistance of outside counsel is continuing a comprehensive review of System-wide policies and procedures pertaining to student lending practices at its nine academic and six health institutions. UT System Vice Chancellor and General Counsel Barry Burgdorf estimated a final report and recommendations will be presented to the Board of Regents and Chancellor Mark G. Yudof in four to six weeks.
