A state court has ordered Pennsylvania’s nonprofit student-loan agency to turn over financial records to a group of news agencies that have requested the documents, according to The Patriot-News, a newspaper in Harrisburg, Pa.

The court found that the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency, known as Pheaa, had violated a state open-records law when it refused requests from the Associated Press, The Patriot-News, and a television station in Pittsburgh for records detailing spending on travel by agency employees and board members, among other things. Pheaa had argued that it didn’t have to turn over the documents because they contained “trade secrets” that, if revealed, could benefit its competition in the student-loan industry.

Pheaa’s financial practices have been under intense scrutiny ever since Sallie Mae, the nation’s largest student-loan provider, offered Pennsylvania $1-billion in December 2004 for the agency’s assets, including its student-loan portfolio. Sallie Mae eventually dropped its bid, but questions about Pheaa’s spending have continued to plague the agency.

In the summer of 2005, for example, Pheaa’s leaders came under fire for holding a three-day retreat at one of the state’s most luxurious resorts, where they racked up a bill of more than $135,000.