By Daniel Wagner, Associated Press.

WASHINGTON – As many as 900 colleges are pushing students into using payment cards that carry hefty costs, sometimes even to get to their financial aid money, according to a report released Wednesday by a public interest group.

student debt
College students at the University of Illinois. With higher-education debt and costs soaring, federal officials are trying to figure out how to measure the performance of colleges and universities. E. JASON WAMBSGANS / Chicago Tribune
Colleges and banks rake in millions from the fees, often through secretive deals and sometimes in apparent violation of federal law, according to the report, an early copy of which was obtained by The Associated Press.

More than two out of five U.S. higher-education students, more than 9 million people , attend schools that have deals with financial companies, says the report, written by the U.S. Public Interest Research Group Higher Education Fund.

“For decades, student aid was distributed without fees,” said Rich Williams, the report’s lead author. “Now bank middlemen are making out like bandits using campus cards to siphon off millions of student aid dollars.”

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