Offshore hedge-fund investments by Harvard, Yale, and Stanford universities are prompting scrutiny by Senate Finance Committee aides looking for new sources of tax revenue.

Finance Committee staff discussed the matter Monday with experts on taxes and hedge funds at a closed-door meeting on Capitol Hill, according to four congressional aides who were present.

The discussion was part of a broader review of the tax treatment of hedge funds and private-equity firms that the committee staff is conducting as lawmakers search for revenue to offset the costs of tax and budget priorities, according to Mark Heesen, president of the National Venture Capital Association, who met with congressional aides last month.

“They have been told to look for potential revenue-raisers and just be very aware of what’s going on in the private-equity and hedge-fund arena,” Mr. Heesen said.

Universities, pension funds, and foundations don’t owe tax on most investment proceeds, though they are required to pay “unrelated business income tax” when they receive profits from debt-financed investing. Hedge funds set up “blocker” companies in tax havens such as the Cayman Islands that convert such profit into dividends, which aren’t taxed.

Congressional aides who attended the meeting said the inquiry has established that the endowments of many universities, including Harvard, Yale, and Stanford, use this technique.

“If you’re a tax-exempt entity and you’re investing in a hedge fund, you’re very properly and legally in a much better position by investing in one of these corporations,” said John Gaine, president of the Managed Funds Association, the main Washington-based lobbying group for hedge funds. He said his organization has been meeting with congressional aides for months to educate them about how hedge funds operate.

John Longbrake, a spokesman for Cambridge, Mass.-based Harvard, said the university does “not discuss investment structuring.” Chris Yates, director of planned giving at Stanford, near Palo Alto, Calif., said the university “probably” uses intermediary companies in some cases. Karen Peart, a spokeswoman for New Haven, Conn.-based Yale, said she couldn’t immediately comment.

The Senate Finance Committee’s broader review includes scrutiny of fund managers’ ability to pay the 15% capital-gains rate on a large portion of their pay. The staff is also reviewing the use of offshore tax havens by fund managers to defer large amounts of pay and the intention of Blackstone Group LP, the private-equity firm seeking to raise $4 billion in an initial public offering, to avoid the 35% corporate tax on most of its income by organizing as a limited partnership.