Code of Conduct

1. A revenue sharing agreement is defined as “any arrangement between an institution and a lender under which the lender makes Title IV loans to students attending the institution (or to the families of those students), the institution recommends the lender or loan products of the lender, and in exchange, the lender pays a fee or provides other material benefits, including revenue and profit-sharing, to the institution or to its officers, employees, or agents.”
2. Neither UACCRM, nor any employee of UACCRM who has responsibilities with respect to financial aid, shall enter into any revenue-sharing arrangement with any lender.

1. Gift

a. A gift is defined as any gratuity, favor, discount, entertainment, hospitality, loan, or other item having monetary value of more than a de minimis amount.

b. A gift does not include:

1. A brochure, workshop, or training using standard materials relating to loan, default aversion, or financial literacy;
2. Food, training, or informational material provided as part of a training session designed to improve the service of a lender, guarantor, or servicer if the training contributes to the professional development of the institution’s officers, employees, or agents;
3. Favorable terms and benefits on an educational loan provided to a student employed by the institution if those terms and benefits are comparable to those provided to all students at the institution;
4. Entrance and exit counseling as long as the institution’s staff are in control of the counseling and the counseling does not promote the services of a specific lender;
5. Philanthropic contributions from a lender, guarantor, or servicer that are unrelated to educational loans or any contribution that is not made in exchange for an advantage related to educational loans; and
6. State educational grants, scholarships, or financial aid funds administered by, or on behalf of, a state.

2. No employee of UACCRM’s financial aid office (or an employee or agent who otherwise has responsibilities with respect to educational loans), nor any family
member of such, may solicit or accept any gift from a lender, guarantor, or servicer of educational loans.
3. UACCRM is not prohibited from accepting endowment gifts, capital contributions, scholarship funding, or other financial support from a lender, guarantor, or servicer of educational loans, so long as UACCRM gives no competitive advantage or preferential treatment to the lender, guarantor, or servicer related to its educational loan activity in exchange for such support.

1. No employee of UACCRM’s financial aid office (or an employee or agent who otherwise has responsibilities with respect to educational loans), nor any family member of such, shall accept any fee, payment, or other financial benefit as compensation for any type of consulting agreement or contract to provide services to, or on behalf of, a lender in relation to educational loans.
2. No employee of UACCRM’s financial aid office (or an employee or agent who otherwise has responsibilities with respect to educational loans), nor any family member of such, shall accept any fee, payment, or other financial benefit as compensation for serving on an advisory board, commission, or group established by a lender or guarantor (or a group of lenders or guarantors), except for reimbursement of reasonable expenses incurred by the employee for serving on the board.
3. The UACCRM financial aid office may hold membership in any nonprofit professional association, or an employee of the UACCRM financial aid office may hold individual membership in any nonprofit professional association.
4. UACCRM financial aid office employees are not precluded from attending any educational or training program related to financial aid or higher education loans where no registration fee is charged to any attendee because of the lender, guarantor, or loan servicer’s sponsorship or support of the program.
5. These prohibitions shall not apply to participation on advisory boards that are unrelated in any way to financial aid or higher education loans.

1. The UACCRM financial aid office, or an employee of the UACCRM financial aid office, shall not, for any first-time borrower, assign through award packaging or other methods the borrower’s loan to a particular lender, or refuse to certify, or delay certification of, any loan based on the borrower’s selection of a particular lender or guaranty agency.
2. The UACCRM financial aid office, or an employee of the UACCRM financial aid office, shall not direct any borrower to a specific lender for the purpose of borrowing an educational loan. However, a list of lenders that UACCRM students have previously selected for educational loans may be provided to prospective borrowers.
3. The UACCRM financial aid office shall not maintain any type of preferred lender list for any private educational loans. Lenders may be published as general information, but the financial aid office shall not endorse or direct students and parents to any specific lender.

1. UACCRM may not request or accept from any lender any offer of funds to be used for private educational loans to students in exchange for providing concessions or promises to the lender regarding loan volume or preferred lender arrangements.
2. This prohibition extends to “opportunity pool loans,” which are defined as private educational loans made by a lender to a student (or the student’s family) that involve a payment by the institution to the lender for extending credit to the student.

In addition, UACCRM financial aid office employees shall:
1. Avoid all conflicts of interest, potential conflicts of interest, and the appearance of conflicts of interest that could result in personal financial gain;
2. Refrain from knowingly taking any action contrary to law, regulation, UACCRM policy, or the best interests of students and their families;
3. Refrain from taking action or making decisions for a family member, friend, or business associate that would affect financial aid eligibility, except through automated processes applied uniformly to all students;
4. Promote the core values and mission of the UACCRM financial aid office; and
5. Notify the Director of Financial Aid of any observed or potential conflict of interest involving a financial aid office employee.
6. All required consumer information is displayed in a prominent location on the institutional web site(s) and in any printed materials, easily identified and found
7. Information provided by the financial aid office is accurate, unbiased, and does not reflect preference arising from actual or potential personal gain