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Student Lender MyRichUncle Offends Again

Student Lender MyRichUncle Offends Again
5/21/2008
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Administrator

More than a year after their controversial ad suggested that financial aid officials were profiting at the expense of student borrowers, MyRichUncle’s in-your-face marketing tactics have again caused an uproar among college officials. The ads in question, ones recently found in The New York Times and USA Today, portray a split head—no brains—with the slogan, “I didn’t use my brain, I went straight to the financial aid office,” reported The Chronicle of Higher Education.

After MyRichUncle's initial ad ran, an investigation into college financial aid offices led to revelations that numerous colleges were receiving money to advertise select student lenders on their official preferred-lender lists. Since then administrators at a number of colleges and universities were forced to resign. Frustrated at the prospect of more accusations and worried that the self-serving actions of a few would come to represent the general view of college representatives, financial aid officials are fuming about the new ads.

To find what MyRichUncle could tell me that financial aid officials couldn’t, I visited the student lender's site. Expecting to see federal student aid definitions or information about college scholarships and grants under their “Financial Aid 101” heading, I instead found that I needed to download the latest flash player to see further results. Information about company loans was, of course, much easier to navigate.

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