Chicago State University steers students who need loans to a bank led by a university trustee and in which university President Elnora Daniel is a director and shareholder, a Tribune investigation has found...

Chicago State's financial aid Web site admonishes students to "choose your lender carefully," then recommends five companies, including Seaway.

Daniel owns stock in the private, South Side bank and was appointed to its board of directors in 2004, according to state records. Since then, the bank has seen a nearly 200 percent increase in the number of federally guaranteed loans to Chicago State students, for a total of $1.5 million, according to a market research firm that collects data on federal loans...

"College officials ... who hold stock in student loan companies are apt to have financial interests that are not always in line perfectly with student loan borrowers," said Michael Dannenberg of the nonprofit New America Foundation...

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