Thursday, October 4, 5:45 p.m.
By Josh Brogadir
The state auditor general is blasting one of the leading
providers of financial loans and grants for college students.
The Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency, or PHEAA,
is accused of using millions of taxpayer dollars on bonuses for
employees instead of using it to help needy students.
At Marywood University students learning about what the
auditor general called the questionable use of funds had a lot
to say about it. Some of the undergrads, like many throughout
Pennsylvania, receive loans and grants from PHEAA.
Now comes the auditor general's report that PHEAA handed out
$7.5 million in bonuses to employees over the last few years and
of $108,000 spent on an employee appreciation day at Hersheypark
in April, just one month after the PHEAA board said it would
hold back on excessive spending.
Marywood financial aid students Cassie Scannella of
Mifflintown and Jimmy Langan of Meshoppen were dismayed to hear
about the report and what they said it means to them and to
their classmates.
"It kind of makes me angry because college is expensive and
we're students and we're trying to better ourselves, so it would
be nice if we could get a little bit more," said sophomore
Scannella.
"That's what holds back some people from going to college.
It's a lot of money to have to come up with in a short amount of
time, so it does bother me," said Langan.
University of Scranton senior Brett Taroli of Old Forge is
disappointed to hear about the spending but doesn't want to be
too quick to judge the PHEAA employees.
"I don't really know how intense those people's jobs are. I
can't imagine terribly," Taroli said.
The auditor general said if the employee bonuses were split
across 2,500 students, it would mean 2,500 more in loans that
could have been forgiven.
PHEAA's board responded to the announcement by calling an
emergency meeting for next week. PHEAA president and CEO, Dick
Willey, announced late Thursday afternoon said he will resign
next week, two months earlier than expected.
http://www.wnep.com/Global/story.asp?S=7170854