Pennsylvania residents, already upset about the overly generous pay raise state lawmakers bestowed upon themselves and other state officials, have been dealt another reason to express anger - this time at the doorstep of the commonwealth's student-loan agency.

The Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency shouldn't need retreats at expensive vacation spots - like the one June 1-3 at Nemacolin Woodlands Resort in Fayette County costing nearly $136,000 - to muster the incentive to carry out important, lengthy, in-depth discussions and information-gathering about issues with which the agency is dealing. There are plenty of private areas in the state capitol for the agency to meet for such discussions, although there remains debate about whether the private sessions - which, in reality, focused on agency business - were in violation of the state's open-meetings law.

The Pennsylvania Newspaper Association's general legal counsel says such sessions should be public because the Nemacolin agenda included discussion about revisions to the distribution formula for state grants and changes to federal law affecting student loans.

But this year's PHEAA getaway wasn't a one-time experiment on the agency's part toward improving productivity or decision-making skills - much to the chagrin of people who believe that earnings from PHEAA's student-loan business should benefit students, not agency officials' desire for a vacationlike business atmosphere. Since 2000, PHEAA has spent more than $884,000 on agency officials' trips to Maryland's Eastern Shore, California's Napa Valley, and West Virginia and Virginia.

PHEAA board members obviously aren't shy about rewarding themselves for their agency service, just like state lawmakers aren't shy about 16- to 34-percent raises, despite already receiving annual cost-of-living increases.

Too bad students weren't given the opportunity to benefit from the PHEAA money in question.

Meanwhile, taxpayers angry about the legislative pay raise might be further incensed by the fact that 10 lawmakers who serve on the 20-member PHEAA board chose to break away from unfinished state budget business in Harrisburg to receive PHEAA's VIP treatment at Nemacolin - a four-star resort featuring amenities such as a 36-hole golf course, gourmet dining and a spa.

In all, PHEAA paid for attendance by 70 people at the June "conference," the term PHEAA attorneys have applied to the three-day gathering while defending the meeting's being held outside the public's purview. State Rep. Elinor Taylor, R-Chester, also defended the holding of such meetings outside the state capital, saying that they remove distractions and allow members to better focus on agency business.

What's troubling is that the attitude being projected by PHEAA is too close to the what's-in-it-for-me attitude increasingly on display in the Pennsylvania Legislature - an attitude that depicts arrogance, not public service.

PHEAA should strive to excel and enhance its positive reputation based on the good things it does. Its officials should be capable of deriving a large measure of personal satisfaction from that work, without the need for vacation-like rewards for their efforts.

Hopefully, Nemacolin was the last stop of PHEAA's resort agenda.