Monday, May 7, 2007
, The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
ALUMNI
From page 1
to lenders, the announcement said.
Last April, the University's
alumni association agreed to send
its members a letter promoting
Chase's loan consolidation plan for
a yearly minimum fee of $25,000.
The yearly payment the associa-
tion received from Chase increased
depending on the number of stu-
dents who signed on to the plan
endorsed in the association's letter,
said Jerry Sigler, vice president of
the association.
He said Chase paid for the
expense of the mailing.
Association officials approached
the loan company with concerns
about their arrangement after col-
leges' relationships with lenders
came under scrutiny, Sigler said.
The associationhadn'tyetdecid-
ed to leave the contract before
talking with Chase, but during the
conference both sides agreed it was
best to end their affiliation, Sigler
said.
Chase spokesman Tom Kelly
told The New York Times that
Chase was ending similar relation-
ships with other schools by April
15 because the company had signed
a code of conduct developed by
Cuomo, which it believed prohib-
ited such arrangements.
Sigler said the association didn't
think its arrangement with Chase
was illegal or unethical, but that
the association didn't want to be
connected to the "preferred lend-
er" scandal.
"Because of the potential per-
ception that there was something
wrong, because of so much pub-
lic scrutiny, it's better from a PR
standpoint to distance ourselves
from it," he said.
But Sigler said the association
was looking after its members'
interests when it partnered with
Chase because recent graduates
should be informed about the ben-
efit of loan consolidation.
He said alumni are more likely
to read about loan consolidation
if the information came from the
association rather than through
promotional mail from banks.
"What alumni said they appre-
ciated was that it heightened their
awareness that they should be
doing this," he said. "It was shar-
ing information in a way that it's
more likely to get read."
The association entered the
agreement with Chase because of
the positive feedback other alumni
associations received from their
members for similar programs,
Sigler said.
Because loan consolidation
interest rates are fixed by the fed-
eral Department of Education,
the association reasoned that the
arrangement didn't exploit the
trust of its members by encourag-
ing them to sign plans with higher
rates, Sigler said.
He also said no one complained
to the association about its practice
and some alumni have told him
they appreciated the lesson in loan
management.
It would be too expensive for the
association to continue informing
alumni about loan consolidation
through mailings of its own, he
said.
BLOGS
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LSA senior Pete Troyan knew what it took to make it to the final rounds of the "Jeopardy!" College 2007 Championship.
Student contends for
COary!' championship
By PHIL AZACHI After he passed a test on the "Jeop-
For the Daily ardy!" website, the show's organiz-
ers invited him to Chicago so they
LSA senior Pete Troyan, one of could observe him in a mock game
15 contestants who made it to the and interview him to gauge his per-
"Jeopardy!" College 2007 Champi- sonality.
onship, was not fooled when asked In March, they told Troyan he
what he would do with his cash had been selected as a contestant
prize. and paid for him to fly to Califor-
"I can't comment on that!" Troy- nia for the taping of the tourna-
an said. ment at the University of Southern
He had promised not to reveal California.
the result of the two-week tour- In addition to his airfare, the
nament that started airing April show also paid for Troyan's room at
30. He wouldn't say anything a Hilton Hotel and gave him $600
that suggested how much money in spending money.
he won and how he placed in the "I took my parents out to din-
competition. ner for the first time in my life,"
Troyan underwent an inten- he said.
sive selection process to become Troyan said his mother inspired
a contestant in the tournament. him to try out for "Jeopardy!"
The U.S. House of Representa-
M O RE ONLIN E tives outpaced the University in
at michigandaily.com its hate-crime policy. Read more
at michigandaily.com/thewire.
- she instilled in him a love for
trivia games when he was eight
years old.
As she watched the filming of
the tournament, Troyan's mother
often turned her head away from
the game out of nervousness, Troy-
an said.
Troyan studies physics and
mathematics at the University, but
he said "Jeopardy!" emphasizes
subjects outside his concentration
like history and literature.
"Physics and math are useless
for 'Jeopardy!'," he said.
Troyan said history was his spe-
cialty when he competed in trivia
face-offs for his high school's quiz
bowl team.
An avid fan of trivia game shows,
Troyan said he often follows along
with contestants on shows like
"Jeopardy!," "Who Wants to be a
Millionaire" and "Cash Cab."
Troyan said he had a strategy
for preparing for the tournament.
"Before the show I tried to get
into the writers' minds," he said,
"I go through things that they
might ask."
He predicted that they would
ask about the Trojan War because
the show was filmed at the Univer-
sity of Southern California, home
of the Trojans.
Troyan said participating in the
tournament was stressful because
it took place during finals week,
but he valued the chance to repre-
sent the University. He said he had
most looked forward to competing
against Notre Dame.
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