"After a nationwide investigation of some of the nation's top colleges and student loan lenders exposed questionable business practices and potential conflicts of interest, Congress approved a new law late Thursday prohibiting schools and financial aid officers from accepting payment or gifts from lenders and requiring loan providers to inform borrowers about the terms of a loan, interest rates and federal aid, among other measures," ABC News reports. "The Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008 codifies a Code of Conduct developed by Cuomo, who led the nationwide investigation last year. The code has now been adopted by more than a dozen lenders and 26 schools and helped model the Student Loan Accountability, Transparency, and Enforcement Act of 2007, which passed the New York State legislature last year. If President Bush signs the bill into law, financial aid officers at colleges and universities will not be allowed to assign first-time borrowers to particular lenders or refuse loans from lenders that students have chosen. Lenders will also not be allowed to use a school's name, emblem, mascot or logo to make it look like a school has endorsed a lender through marketing tactics."