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Scholarship Office issues $350K in awards
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Posted on Mar 04 2005
The CNMI Scholarship Office distributed a total of $350,000 in financial assistance to over 150 Northern Marianas College yesterday.
Scholarship Office administrator Meliza Guajardo said the 167 recipients got $2,100 each to help them pay for their tuition and other school expenses in the Spring semester.
Another batch of the same number of students will receive checks from the Scholarship Office on Friday next week.
The scholarship program is also available for other local students who are pursuing post-secondary education abroad. There are about the same number of off-island and on-island students receiving help from the Scholarship Office, Guajardo said.
This is the second semester that NMC students have received their checks directly from the financial aid agency.
Under the old practice, NMC asked students to sign a form allowing for their scholarship checks to be disbursed through the college. The college then deducts the students’ outstanding tuition and fees, and book charges. Only the money left from these charges eventually goes to the students.
Starting last semester, however, NMC adopted a policy allowing students to receive directly and manage their own scholarship money from the CNMI government.
The move was made in view of the delay in the issuance of their Pell Grant awards, which caused the students to become more dependent on the CNMI scholarship.
The students, in return, agreed to make arrangements with the college to ensure that their outstanding balances are cleared by the end of the semester.
“We want to treat the students as adults. We think they are responsible enough to voluntarily settle their obligations with the college. It’s not fair to hold them hostage and impose that they pay everything when they register,” NMC president Tony Deleon Guerrero had said.
