Establishing mechanisms of accountability can take some doing–and the machinery can grind slowly. But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t grind surely.

Last August, New York attorney general Andrew Cuomo launched an investigation of how higher education’s study abroad programs are conducted. Initial findings suggested that too often, colleges and

universities structure their programs in self-serving ways that shortchange students–backroom deals with independent study abroad contractors have become commonplace, and along the way study abroad

administrators have begun putting financial kickbacks and perks such as free trips ahead of students’ educational and economic prerogatives. The bottom line: the cost of studying abroad is often inflated, and the red tape involved can be excessive and compromising for students whose study abroad options are limited by their schools’ exclusive arrangements with study abroad providers.

Following hard on the heels of the student loan scandal the broke last winter, Cuomo’s investigation may have brought more disappointing news about how colleges and universities have been conducting themselves, but it was also an encouraging sign that such conduct is no longer going to go unnoticed and unchallenged.

Still more encouraging: Today, the New York Times and Inside Higher Ed are reporting that Cuomo has issued a new batch of subpoenas–and that this time fifteen schools, among them Harvard, Brown, Columbia, and Cornell, are in his sights. The investigation continues, widening and deepening its reach, moving from an initial look at study abroad providers to individual schools. And that is telling indeed.