A Virginia Tech financial aid employee whose plans to attend an all-expense paid conference at a Caribbean resort were written about in a national publication Tuesday won't be going after all.

Tony Sutphin, Tech's coordinator for scholarship, federal work study and loan programs, was cited in an Inside Higher Ed story as the only higher education official contacted who said he would be going to a conference sponsored by EduCap Inc. on the Caribbean island of Nevis.

Inside Higher Ed is a daily Web publication well known in the world of higher education. The story provided a look at EduCap and its practice of offering luxury events to college financial aid officials.

The not-for-profit company, which specializes in education loans, sent financial aid officials invitations for a weekend conference at the island's Four Seasons resort in February, when the standing nightly room rate is $655. Invitees were also told they could bring a guest.

Reached for comment about the article Tuesday, Sutphin said he was not going and only received an invitation from EduCap, which does business as Loan to Learn.

"I never said I was attending," he said.

Barry Simmons, Tech's director of scholarships and financial aid, said Sutphin felt he was taken out of context. He stopped short, however, of asserting that he was completely misquoted.

"Perhaps there was some overenthusiasm on one of our employees' parts," Simmons said. "He has not sought nor received permission to attend that conference."

Simmons would not say what action, if any, the university would take against Sutphin.

Inside Higher Ed editor Doug Lederman wrote the story and said Tuesday that it is accurate. He interviewed Sutphin on Monday.

"There was no doubt in my mind, from talking to Tony, that he was planning to go," Lederman said.

The article also said Sutphin attended a conference in Pebble Beach, Calif., sponsored by EduCap last year. Sutphin said both in the article and Tuesday that the company didn't push its own products at the Pebble Beach conference. Based on that experience, when this year's invitation came, "it was a no-brainer," the article quoted him as saying.

Lederman referred to his notes Tuesday to clarify Sutphin's "no-brainer" quote.

"The context was, 'Last year was such a great conference, so when the West Indies invitation came, it was a no-brainer for me,' " Lederman said Tuesday.

Simmons said Sutphin took issue with the "no-brainer," quote, saying he was speaking generally about any conference similar to the one being offered by EduCap.

But Lederman referred to his notes for another quote from Sutphin that didn't appear in the article.

"I know why I'm going and my school knows why I'm going," Sutphin said Monday, according to Lederman.

Sutphin abruptly ended the interview after his request that everything he said be off the record was denied.

The article also noted that Virginia Tech added Loan to Learn to its "preferred alternative loan lender" list in July -- after the Pebble Beach conference.

Tech spokesman Larry Hincker said he was initially concerned with the notion that Sutphin exchanged a place for Loan to Learn on the preferred lender list for the conference invitations.

The ethics section of the Virginia Public Procurement Act, available on Tech's Web site, states "Public employees shall not solicit or accept gifts from bidders, offerors, contractors or subcontractors."

But because there are no criteria to qualify as a preferred lender and the university will list any lender there upon request, the fear that EduCap received any special treatment is eliminated, Hincker said. There are 13 private lenders listed as preferred on Tech's financial aid Web site.

"I think that the implication in Doug's story is unfortunate," Hincker said.

Tom Calcagni, a spokesman for EduCap, said the officials at the company who could speak about the conference were not available.

Simmons said Sutphin is in an administrative position and deals with students about 5 percent of the time. He has been in the department for several years and served as a counselor before moving to his current position about a year ago, Simmons said.

The College Board came out with a report Tuesday showing that private loans to students and parents to pay for college have increased from about $1.7 billion to $17.3 billion over the past 10 years.

As the student loan business has grown, companies that host swanky conferences and give gifts and bonuses to financial aid officials who advise students have come under scrutiny. The New York Times also mentioned the Nevis conference in a story about student loan companies and college administrators Tuesday, though it did not mention Sutphin or Tech.

Simmons said he was not Sutphin's direct supervisor last year when Sutphin went on the trip to Pebble Beach, but conference trips to various locations in the continental United States aren't unusual, he said. He said people in financial aid offices have to be careful where they draw the line.

"The Caribbean probably is beyond that," he said. "You get to the point where enough is enough."

Yvonne Hubbard, director of student financial services at the University of Virginia, said her office is very wary of accepting anything from private lenders and that she doesn't know of anyone in her office who received any invitation to the conference.

"We try to keep them very, very much at arm's length," she said of lenders. "We don't even accept candy."