"The 'graduation present' [NY] state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo gave a group of high school seniors Thursday wasn't gift-wrapped and it wasn't green, but Cuomo promised it was valuable," according to the Associated Press. "'A lot of work went into this,' Cuomo said after delivering three-by-five cards outlining reforms that grew from his investigation of deceptive practices in the $85 billion student loan industry. The [nine]-point 'student bill of rights' was part of the Student Lending Accountability, Transparency and Enforcement Act adopted by the state Legislature this month."

According to a press release from the attorney general's office release yesterday, the Student Bill of Rights includes the following rights:

• To unbiased advice about loans and lenders from schools' financial aid offices.
• To choose the lender, even if the lender is not included on the school's preferred lender lists.
• To know what criteria a school uses to select preferred lenders.
• To know whether preferred lenders are paying the school or financial aid officers.
• To know what benefits or rate discounts lenders offer, and whether those benefits or discounts will be made immediately available, or only after a certain number of consecutive timely payments.
• To know if a lender has agreed to sell its loans to another lender.
• To know whether borrower benefits and discounts will continue if the loan is sold.
• To know the interest rate for the loan before borrowing.
• To exhaust federal borrowing options before turning to higher cost private loans.