Columbia fires financial aid director

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Columbia University fired its financial aid director Tuesday after finding that he had promoted a student loan company in which he had an ownership stake, the university said.

Charlow had been suspended since April when the university learned of his actions, the school said.

"Mr. Charlow, a long-term and well regarded employee, abused a position of trust and violated the University policy on conflicts of interest," said Robert Hornsby, director of media relations at Columbia, in an email.

David Charlow on three occasions sent letters to parents and alumni praising the services of Student Loan Xpress, which he owned a stake of, said a report in The New York Times.

Student Loan Xpress, a division of Education Lending Group, is a lender focusing on college students.

Officials working with New York's attorney general's office said that documents obtained from Columbia showed the university hadn't done enough to supervise its financial aid program, said the Times report.

The attorney general's office asked Columbia's president to immediately overhaul the program.

Charlow was not immediately available for comment.

Also related to the investigation, the financial aid director of Johns Hopkins University, Ellen Frishberg, resigned after it was revealed that she had received $65,000 in consulting fees and tuition payments from Student Loan Xpress.