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NMC gets closer to getting off Pell reimbursement status
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Posted on Nov 13 2004
Northern Marianas College is getting closer to getting off the Pell Grant reimbursement status, after the college succeeded in submitting three consecutive batches of student applications to the federal government.
NMC president Tony Deleon Guerrero said he received word from the U.S. Department of Education that no error was found in the package of student files most recently sent by the college. It was the third consecutive batch of clean files submitted by NMC.
By doing so, NMC was able to meet the requirement set by USDE as a condition for lifting the reimbursement status.
“The only obstacle we’re facing right now is Pell’s request for us to submit a spreadsheet of all awardees in academic year 2003-2004. They need that spreadsheet to clear the books, to have a list of students who have been found eligible and who have not,” said Deleon Guerrero.
He said the Pell office required NMC to submit the spreadsheet by Nov. 30. He expressed hope that by December, NMC would return to the Pell Grant advance status.
“As you know, being placed on reimbursement status has caused a negative impact on our financial status. The money we’re getting now from Pell was supposed to have been received back in academic year 2003-2004. We’re now in AY2004-2005,” Deleon Guerrero said.
Pell Grant provides college funding to low-income students nationwide, either individually or through college. Pell Grant awards are given to undergraduate students pursuing an associate or bachelors degree.
NMC receives an average of about $2,000 in Pell funds a year. The award increases every year to compensate for higher tuition costs as well as other increased educational expenses.
The federal government had placed NMC on Pell reimbursement status, as opposed to advance status, due to the college’s failure to submit audits on time in the last four years.
The U.S. Education Department subsequently said the reimbursement status would be lifted as soon as NMC submits three consecutive batches of student files containing an error rate of 10 percent or less.
NMC then hired a Los-Angeles based consultant to review the student applications before sending them to the USDE.
