For more than a year now, Team 4 has been finding money at the state's student loan agency that could have been used to help students pay for college, but instead has been giving Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency board members and executives a lifestyle meant for the rich.

Now, a Republican is joining with Gov. Ed Rendell to call for some big changes following last week's PHEAA board decision to dole out almost $600,000 in executive bonuses.

Sen. Jane Orie said it's time for her fellow lawmakers who run PHEAA to step down and let professional educators and business leaders take over the board.

Orie is on a mission to overhaul the structure of PHEAA.

"What we have done is an injustice for education," said Orie. "It's a tragedy."

A conservative Republican, Orie does not often get support from Rendell on any issue, but she does when it comes to PHEAA.

PHEAA's vice-chairman opposes privatization. Sen. Sean Logan and Rep. William Adolph, the chairman, took control of PHEAA's board earlier this year, a board with 14 state lawmakers.

Logan said he and Adolph have already instituted new travel and ethics policies and are working on eliminating executive bonuses altogether.

"I think the bonuses were outrageous, and I think that they will stop," said Logan. "But those were an agreement from past leadership. Not from myself and not from Rep. Adolph."

"I think it behooves Sen. Logan and Rep. Adolph to step aside," said Orie.

Orie said Pennsylvanians, especially those whose children can't afford to go to college, are demanding a change at PHEAA now.

"As a former prosecutor, I can say this, it's a raping of the public dollars," said Orie. "I mean, this is outrageous, and the conduct of these people, they should be held liable for what they've done to PHEAA."

Orie is calling for Senate hearings on the almost $600,000 paid in PHEAA bonuses, an amount that could have paid for 125 college students to get grants of $4,500 each.

In the meantime, Orie said those bonuses will also fatten the pensions of the PHEAA executives who received them.

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