Two members of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Education and Labor visited the University yesterday to decide whether students are satisfied with financial aid arrangements.

Jo-Marie St. Martin and Diane Stark are on a committee formed by Congress to visit and evaluate institutions in a five-year plan to re-authorize the Higher Education Act, which expires in September. The act dictates how the federal government funds financial aid for undergraduates.

Penn State was the first institution St. Martin and Stark visited. The visits will help them understand financial aid problems, they said.

The committee members toured the University's student financial aid facility and walked through the process of applying for financial aid.

"The entire process gave us a chance to see how the financial aid office works and gain some inside knowledge of what students go through," Stark said. "It was a really instructive, helpful experience."

The visit was organized by Richard DiEugenio, the University's Department of Governmental Affairs' Washington, D.C., lobbyist. DiEugenio said he thinks the re-authorization of higher education laws will be the most significant piece of domestic legislation during the next 18 months.

The information gathered by the two representatives will be used to draft new legislature for the re-authorization of the Higher Education Act.

St. Martin and Stark also met with several University student groups in 39 McAllister yesterday afternoon to hear students' perspectives.

At one meeting, representatives from four minority organizations said they were dissatisfied with the University's treatment of their financial need.

Walter Sanchez, Puerto Rican Student Association president, said he appreciated the chance to meet with the representatives, but viewed it as just another meeting.

Odette Pinheiro-Colon, representing the Latino Caucus, agreed with Sanchez. "All the meetings are the same. This is my fifth year at Penn State, and at every meeting we say the same things and still nothing is done," she said. "But all you can do is hope that maybe this time it will be different."

Pinheiro-Colon said Hispanics' future enrollment in higher education looks bleak because they have insufficient funds.

"The only way you can get ahead in this world is to get an education," she said. "And most Hispanic students are discouraged right from the start because they just don't have the money."

Eric Bigelow, Black Student Council representative, said black Americans are in a Catch-22 situation.

"Most people think that because you're black you automatically receive funds from organizations such as the United Negro College Fund," he said. "But that's not true. UNCF will only award money to students attending historically black institutions."

Black Caucus Vice President Gerard Louison said financial aid in this country is insufficient for everyone, but specifically for the people who have historically been underrepresented.

"The bottom line is that it comes down to money and priority," Louison said. "Bush said he was going to be the 'education president,' but with the budget cuts, he's made it apparent that higher education is taking a second place."

Pinheiro-Colon added that when money is cut from the budget, minority students, especially Hispanics, are the first to be hurt.

"The little money that is given to sponsor programs geared toward minority concerns is cut first," Pinheiro-Colon said.

She said minority students should not be punished when funds are slashed.