New York’s attorney general, Andrew M. Cuomo, has sent subpoenas and other information requests to a number of colleges about their relationships with health-insurance companies that cover students, in an attempt to investigate whether colleges are receiving improper payments in exchange for requiring their students to use a particular insurer, according to The New York Times.

Among the institutions from which Mr. Cuomo has sought information, the newspaper said, are Columbia, Cornell, and Georgetown Universities; Sarah Lawrence College; and several campuses of the State University of New York. Mr. Cuomo’s office has asked for such documents as copies of colleges’ requests for proposals from insurers, contracts with insurers, statistics on premiums paid, and information given to students about available policies, according to a spokeswoman for SUNY who was quoted in the Times article.

“We are primarily focused on whether insurance companies are paying schools to push students into health coverage they don’t really need and shouldn’t really want,” the newspaper quoted Benjamin M. Lawsky, special assistant to the attorney general, as saying.

The article noted that parents have complained about rules at some colleges that require students to buy health coverage even though many of them are insured by family policies.

Mr. Cuomo already has conducted a series of investigations into colleges’ practices. He led a high-profile probe last year of conflicts of interest in student lending. He also has investigated college study-abroad offices and private providers of overseas programs, asking about their business practices and financial arrangements with colleges. On another front, he sent out a series of subpoenas asking institutions for details on their college-branded credit cards. —Sara Hebel