March 1, 2007

Expense Records for Pennsylvania Student-Loan Agency Reveal Caribbean Stays, Pricey Restaurant Meals

Expense records that Pennsylvania’s student-loan agency reluctantly released on Wednesday were stripped of critical information and were randomly arranged, making meaningful analysis nearly impossible, according to the Associated Press, one of three news organizations that had sued to obtain the documents.

The Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency, known as Pheaa, made available 13,470 pages of receipts and vouchers for airfare, hotel rooms, meals, and other expenses that the agency’s employees incurred from 2003 to 2005. The loan agency had sought to block access to the records, arguing that they included “trade secrets.” Last week, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court affirmed a lower court’s decision that the agency had to release the information.

Among the notable expenses from the records was a $27,000 bill for more than 20 rooms at a hotel and casino in the Dominican Republic over five days in February 2003, the AP reported. There was also a bill for 29 rooms at the same facility in June of that year, but the records for that stay appeared incomplete. A Pheaa official told the news service that the group’s events at that hotel and elsewhere had helped the loan agency establish itself in the Caribbean, where it is now the largest student-loan guarantor.

The Patriot-News, a newspaper in Harrisburg, Pa., that had joined the AP in the suit for access, reported that other expenses included $1,734 for a March 2004 dinner for four at Mastro’s Ocean Club, in Scottsdale, Ariz., billed as a place “where price doesn’t matter.”

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