New York State’s attorney general, Andrew M. Cuomo, began issuing subpoenas on Wednesday to organizations that provide study-abroad programs to colleges. The subpoenas seek information about the organizations’ business practices and financial arrangements with colleges.

The president of one organization said that it had received a subpoena Wednesday evening. The chief executive of another said that it had not yet received a subpoena, but that he had been told by a reporter for The New York Times to expect one.

On Monday, an article in the Times compared the relationships between colleges and study-abroad providers to cozy, perk-filled arrangements between some college financial-aid offices and student-loan companies they have done business with. In recent months, Mr. Cuomo’s office has conducted an extensive investigation of the student-loan business.

Mary M. Dwyer, president of the nonprofit study-abroad consortium Institute for the International Education of Students, said the subpoena her office received early Wednesday evening asked for information about a broad range of practices, including payments her organization has made to foreign universities for tuition, any compensation the IES provides to American colleges, and the type of scholarships and grants her company gives to students.

The consortium “has nothing to hide and has always complied with the best academic and business practices,” said Ms. Dwyer. “We have total confidence in our business and ethics, and plan to comply with the investigation to the extent that is required by law.”

Butler University’s Institute for Study Abroad also received a subpoena. The organization was mentioned in the Times article for its practice of offering colleges financial incentives in exchange for exclusive access to their students. A spokeswoman for the institute did not respond to phone and e-mail inquiries Wednesday evening.

The American Institute for Foreign Study, another study-abroad provider mentioned in the Times article on Monday, had not received a subpoena as of Wednesday evening. But William Gertz, the company’s chief executive, said in an interview with The Chronicle that he had been told by Diana Jean Schemo, the Times reporter who wrote Monday’s article, that the attorney general’s office had supplied her with a full list of the companies that were being subpoenaed, and that his company was on the list.

“When we do receive the subpoena, we will obviously cooperate,” said Mr. Gertz. “We want to do what’s in the best interest of the students.” —Elizabeth F. Farrell