CREATIVE FINANCING. Universities sell banks the right to offer convenient financial services. There are multiple catches.

The TitanCard, the letter said, could double as a debit and ATM card if the [Wisconsin-Oshkosh] student opened an account with U.S. Bank. Attached was a bank application.

What the university did not say was that U.S. Bank pays the university a cut of its revenue in exchange for the exclusive right to target students through campus IDs.

Or that Chancellor Richard Wells sits on U.S. Bank's local advisory board.

No conflict of interest here. Nothing to see. Move along.

UW-Oshkosh and U.S. Bank say the partnership offers students convenience.

"We don't want students having to use two cards," said Tom Sonnleitner, UW-Oshkosh's vice chancellor for administrative services.

But like all the other inconveniences businesses spin as "convenience," there's a sting in the tail.

The Journal Sentinel found that no other bank in the Oshkosh area charges students a higher overdraft fee for checking accounts than U.S. Bank. The credit card it markets through a university Web site has notably higher interest rates.

Critics say such a revenue-sharing arrangement, common at a growing number of universities across the country, poses conflicts of interest similar to one uncovered in the student loan industry.

In a practice recently banned by the UW System Board of Regents, lending institutions were found to have paid universities a cut of their loan volume in exchange for being placed on a list of preferred lenders.

Sell off some passenger train equipment for a kickback, go to jail. Sell "access" to your students, get honored for your "development" efforts? On one hand, my inner libertarian sees gains from trade being identified and acted upon.

Typically the university allows the bank to offer checking accounts through its student IDs and to set up ATMs on campus. It agrees to promote the bank to students and parents.

The bank, in turn, provides the partnering school with signing bonuses and ongoing revenue based on the number of checking accounts opened and debit transactions generated through the campus cards.

U.S. Bank, which has more partnerships than any other bank, paid UW-Oshkosh a one-time signing bonus of $30,000, according to the contract. Each year it pays the university $15,000 in "soft money" and royalty payments based on the number of students and faculty who open checking accounts. The most recent royalty payment was $15,000, but, in its proposal, U.S. Bank said the payment could be as much as $130,000.

Trent Spurgeon, U.S. Bank's senior vice president for consumer products, said the goal is to attract young customers before the competition does. He said it is cheaper to target students through campus cards than through mainstream advertising. For that reason, the bank agreed to share some of its profits with the universities.

"Either we compete for them now or we compete for them later," Spurgeon said. "There's an implicit benefit that we're able to share."

On the other hand, my jive detector suggests that some Wisconsin system senior administrators also have working jive detectors.

UW-Milwaukee and UW-Madison said they turned down offers mostly because their identification cards were not equipped to double as ATM/debit cards.

They also were suspicious.

"There were some concerns based on arrangements at other campuses," said Darrell Bazzell, UW-Madison's vice chancellor for administration. "Obviously banks want to improve their profit margin. That's not our intent."

Northern Illinois University has such an arrangement, with TCF Bank (also cultivating student accounts by purchasing naming rights at stadiums). At the time the deal was introduced, faculty bridled at having their identification card bundled with a bank card, and the administration and the bank agreed to allow faculty to opt out.