Andrew Coburn is studying bioengineering at the University of Illinois at Chicago with the dream of one day designing tissue to replace ruined ligaments. He already has a very marketable skill, however: taking notes.

Coburn, a senior from Lombard, earned $2,000 last semester for posting the notes from his psychology class on a Web site. He was the top note-taker for Study24-7.com, a company that pays Coburn according to how many people look at his site. For that diligence, Study24-7 rewarded Coburn and his wife with an 8-day trip to Hawaii.

"Every single day," Coburn said wistfully, "my wife and I think about that trip. Every single day."

University and college administrators have been thinking a lot about Coburn and thousands like him who, with a few keystrokes, are becoming a controversial influence in higher education. Sprouting across the country in the last two years, e-businesses that pay college students for their notes are generating serious concern as well as praise.

Critics say the enterprises corrupt classroom learning and violate professors' intellectual-property rights. Supporters say the sites help students learn, create a healthy exchange of knowledge and have almost no effect on class attendance.

"The key is that commercial enterprises are intruding into the world of the classroom," said Mathieu Deflem, assistant professor of sociology at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind., a leading critic of the note-taking e-businesses.

"The relationship in the classroom is very sensitive," said Deflem, who created a Web site last fall that serves as a clearinghouse of the commercial services (http://www.sla.purdue.edu/people/soc/mdeflem/). "It is upheld only with respect and dignity. Students and teachers should be left alone with that."

Added Jonathan R. Alger, counsel for the American Association of University Professors, in Washington, D.C.: "I don't feel that the thing is inherently evil, but the lesson that it sends to students is that even the classroom experience is up for sale. Everything has a price."

Companies providing notes on the Web contend that the service is a supplement--not a substitute--for class. Furthermore, they say that professors typically encourage students to compare notes with classmates and that notes on the Internet are the evolution of a service that has been on campuses for decades.

"Students make the decision to skip classes for a number of reasons," said Janet Cardinell, director of campus relations for Versity.com, which calls itself the fastest-growing "academic community." She conceded, however, that her company and others like it may provide a reason.

StudentU.com President Oran Wolf, who made his national launch in fall 1999, said he had "a handful of professors calling and expressing their displeasure." This semester, he said, "we haven't had any."

Wolf added that professors who might check attendance after a paid note-taker arrived in their class would find little if any difference.

"Students know better than to use it as a substitute," he said.

Coburn and other note-takers interviewed agreed. He said blaming him for students missing class is similar to a killer blaming violent, graphic music for a murderous rampage.

"We're all adults here," he said. "You go to college. I'm not responsible for you. You're responsible for yourself. You're in control of yourself."

Although it is unclear exactly how many note-selling e-businesses exist--Deflem has counted 13--the three major players say that they each have student note-takers on more than 100 campuses. The three, which make their money from ads on the Web site, also claim to have note-takers in thousands of classrooms.

Illinois schools are well covered. Versity.com, which says it has note-takers in nearly 7,000 classrooms on 147 campuses, is at Eastern Illinois, Illinois State, Southern Illinois in Carbondale, the University of Illinois at Chicago and Urbana-Champaign and Western Illinois.

StudentU.com, which says it has 121 campuses covered, has note-takers at DePaul University, Illinois State, Northern Illinois, Southern Illinois and both major campuses of the University of Illinois.

Study24-7.com, Coburn's employers, says it works on 300 campuses throughout North America and Europe, including the University of Illinois' campuses, the Illinois Institute of Technology, SIU, EIU, WIU, NIU, DePaul, Illinois State, Bradley, Chicago State and Loyola.

As the companies spread faster than dirty laundry on a dorm room floor, professors and university administrators are debating the trend.

"Students have many ways of learning," said Michael Cummings, an associate professor of genetics at UIC who lectures for Coburn's educational and financial benefit. "If this is another way that they can use to learn the material, then I'm all for it."

Coburn informed Cummings at the semester's first class that he planned to take notes for pay. Cummings allowed it. Since then, Cummings reported, about four students have told him Coburn's notes have been very helpful, and attendance for the class has remained steady at about 200 students.

Cummings and other professors did warn that students who depend solely on the notes from a Web site are "running the risk" of assuming the notes are accurate and complete. Also, Cummings said, students who cut class miss valuable interaction between the professor and students.

"Part of the challenge of learning and being a good student is knowing how to take good notes," Cummings said, repeating the sentiments of many professors. "That's a required skill, and I don't want to do anything to stop the students from acquiring that skill."

Cummings is in a slightly different position from other professors when it comes to potential intellectual-property infringement. He wrote the textbook he uses in the genetics class, leaving him unconcerned about losing compensation.

For other professors, though, the issue is acute, particularly when it comes to any inaccuracies in the notes. E-businesses tell note-takers to paraphrase notes, and the companies are quick to point out that the notes are one student's impressions of a class--all as disclaimers against intellectual-property infringement.

"I don't see anything positive in this," said Daniel Sutherland, a philosophy professor at UIC whose lectures are being chronicled by a student working for Versity.com. Sutherland called the note-takers "carpetbaggers."

"I look at this," Sutherland said, while reviewing the student's notes, which he said included a handful of glaring errors, "and they're misrepresenting my words. I'm embarrassed. I don't want to have anything to do with it.

"If you're a good student, this would be a waste of time. Your time would be better spent playing Nintendo."

Many universities, including the University of Illinois, DePaul, the University of Chicago, Northwestern and Loyola, have no specific policy on selling notes on the Web, and no universities have filed a lawsuit against an e-business for the practice.

In September, however, the University of California at Los Angeles sent a letter demanding that Versity.com drop UCLA courses from its offerings. The letter stated that "commercial use of class notes or recordings constitutes an unauthorized commercial activity in violation of the UCLA Regulations on Activities, Registered Organizations and Use of Properties." Versity.com left UCLA.

The University of Minnesota's faculty senate declared Feb. 24 that the selling of notes for commercial purposes violates that school's student conduct code.

The next day, Yale University took it a step further, demanding in a letter hinting at litigation that Versity.com stop posting Yale notes on the Web "or we will take further action." Versity.com dropped Yale the same day.