Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard announced Wednesday a new probe into whether college student loans in the state were mishandled in violation of the law.
Goddard's investigation joins others nationwide, which focus on schools choosing "preferred lenders" and accepting payments in return.
New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has threatened Arizona State University with a lawsuit over its agreement with San Francisco-based Education Finance Partners to share revenue from private student loans.
Goddard's office will issue civil investigative demands this week to at least two student loan businesses, said spokeswoman Andrea Esquer, who declined to name the lenders or comment on which colleges might be involved in the probe.
Esquer wouldn't comment further on any aspects.
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The New York investigation identified dozens of schools that accepted payments from the $85 billion student loan industry and Cuomo has called on the schools to halt the practice.
Sallie Mae, the country's largest student loan provider, last week accepted a $2 million settlement with Cuomo.
The University of Arizona uses the term "preferred lenders" on its financial aid Web sites, but the lists include between 10 and 15 lenders for different types of loans. The lenders are selected based on the number of UA students who have used them in the past, said university spokesman Johnny Cruz.
In addition to the lists, the UA clearly states it will accept any lender approved by the U.S. Department of Education.
The UA has no formal or informal revenue-sharing agreements with lenders, Cruz said. Nor has the school received any requests for documents from any investigating agency.
