Guilty until proven innocent – that was the verdict for the student loan industry on CNN’s “In the Money" on April 14.
Regular panelist Jennifer Westhoven had some harsh words regarding the investigation into preferred student lending practices.
"This kind of a scandal is the kind of thing you think about when you think about Enron and, y’know, Wall Street firms and chop shops …” said Westhoven.
CNN reporter Christine Romans agreed, but then took the conversation a step further smearing drug companies in the process.
“And when you look at sort of the business plan, you look at what some of the allegations are in this – in this industry scandal, you see that these sound like drug companies. ‘Let’s get our representatives into the financial aid office, let’s give gifts, let’s get people owning stock, let’s get them on our boards, so that our student loan can be right up there, preferred student loan for students, whether or not it may be the best fit for students,’” said Romans.
The "scandal" is actually an investigation being carried out by New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo.
In addition to acting like lead prosecutor Romans also complained that"increasing fees and tuition at America's universities" are pushing middle and lower class students out of schools.
The "In the Money" team, led by CNN reporter Ali Velshi, parroted Cuomo's statements about the investigation. But the CNN team didn't mention that students are not required to use "preferred lender" programs, as the New York Times explained on April 15.
