Federal and state officials investigating the student-loan industry are turning their attention to matters of race, hoping to protect students of the nation's historically black colleges. But the colleges themselves are not sure they want the help. New York's attorney general, Andrew M. Cuomo, and the chairman of the U.S. House education committee, Rep. George E. Miller, Democrat of California, both wrote to lenders last week asking for details of how they consider race and gender when making loans. Mr. Cuomo, testifying before the committee this month, said he was investigating the criteria that lenders use in underwriting loans as part of his overall inquiry into student-lending practices. "There are civil-rights and legal ramifications to this," he said. Representatives of historically black colleges and student advocates, however, joined lenders in urging caution toward such a line of inquiry. As with many of the practices previously uncovered by Mr. Cuomo, several officials of those groups noted, there is no explicit legal prohibition against rate variations among colleges. There is also no immediate evidence of abuses, they said. At the same time, the three main associations representing historically black colleges are challenging some of the key provisions in Democrat-authored legislation designed to rein in student-lending abuses. The groups object to such fundamental elements of the legislation as an effective requirement that any college giving its students a list of "preferred lenders" include at least three different lenders on the list. In their letters to Mr. Kennedy and Mr. Miller, the black colleges also warned that the lawmakers' proposal to bar lenders from paying the expenses of college administrators who serve on lender advisory boards might leave only wealthier colleges able to participate.