It should also require universities to choose preferred lenders through an open process that guarantees the best rates and treatment for student borrowers.

Student Loan Xpress is one of the "preferred lenders" recommended at all three universities.

It is not clear when Student Xpress became a preferred lender there.

Specifically, many universities steered student borrowers to "preferred lenders" that charged higher interest rates.

Some of these "preferred lenders" allegedly rewarded university financial aid staff with kick backs.

The key to this business is university financial aid offices, which compile lists of "preferred" lenders, sometimes as few as two.

It is hard to trust any school's "preferred lender" list after the revelation that some college officials received compensation from lenders.

Instead, they discovered that most people simply did whatever the university federal aid officer suggested, and they couldn't get on the list of "preferred lenders."

It has also created expedited processing with selected lending partners called preferred lenders.

Students seeking private loans have often gone to their college aid offices, and these departments often had lists of so-called preferred lenders to show them.