Senate committee backs NMC budget
The Senate Fiscal Affairs Committee is poised to recommend the passage of a bill that appropriates $518,000 for the Northern Marianas College for its summer and nursing programs.
“I’m in support of NMC’s budget request,” said committee chair Joseph M. Mendiola.
NMC officials, led by president Tony Deleon Guerrero, visited the Senate last Monday to lobby for the funding.
“They [NMC officials] came here. They explained to us their budgetary concerns,” said Mendiola.
The House of Representatives earlier approved NMC’s supplemental budget, as contained in House Bill 14-335. The bill wants to set aside $208,000 for a summer program and $310,000 for nursing program.
Rep. Arnold I. Palacios authored the bill, which taps money from the 2004 lapsed Tobacco Control Fund.
Earlier, NMC warned that failure to offer summer classes this year would result in students graduating one semester late.
The nursing classes, for instance, must be taken in sequence on time to avoid any delay in the students’ completion of the program.
