Attorney general examines schools' study abroad programs
He has asked 10 Connecticut schools to disclose information to determine if schools or administrators received subsidized trips, cash bonuses or other incentives to choose one study abroad provider over another.
"The question is whether the arrangement is in the student's best interest," Blumenthal said.
A similar investigation last year examined perks offered by student loan companies to influence colleges to provide special access to students. Three Connecticut schools agreed to donate to scholarship funds to settle allegations that they received benefits in exchange for giving preferred lender status to a student loan company.
The Connecticut Conference of Independent Colleges, a group of 17 schools in Connecticut, also agreed to a Financial Aid Code of Conduct that prohibits schools and financial aid staff from accepting compensation from lending institutions.
In an investigation with New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, Blumenthal is now asking Connecticut schools to provide details on financial arrangements with providers and how colleges handle study abroad tuition.
He also wants to see all student complaints since 2001, The Hartford Courant reported Sunday.
The schools in Connecticut are cooperating, Blumenthal said. At their request, he sent "requests for voluntary production" rather than subpoenas that imply a criminal investigation.
Blumenthal has sent letters to Albertus Magnus, Connecticut College, Fairfield, Quinnipiac, Sacred Heart, Trinity, Wesleyan, the University of Connecticut, University of Hartford and Yale.
Wesleyan and UConn say they spend their own money dispatching staff overseas to evaluate programs.
Deborah MacDonnell, spokeswoman at Connecticut College, said free trips are not enough to influence the schools and are necessary to maintain oversight.
"We have full confidence in the integrity of our program," she said.
In a global economy, colleges have been aggressively urging students to study overseas, learn a new language and become acquainted with other cultures.
At Yale, study abroad is heavily promoted and a committee decides which programs to approve based on academic quality, safety and comments from returning students, university spokesman Tom Conroy said.
"The university is confident that its approval of overseas study is based solely on academic quality and the well-being of Yale students," he said.
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