Perceptual mold on scholarship

The financial straits of the local government is basically the direct result of the Asian crisis. The mind-numbing assault on local businesses has been devastating. In short, our primary income earner (tourism) is the victim of this regional contagion. It has forced the local government to juggle revenue collection that comes in trickles to meet the most basic of public services in health, education and public safety.

Sadly, too, the economic contraction has cut deep into funds on programs we used to take for granted, including the local scholarship program. The amount it used to receive has decreased considerably. Scholarship funds for students at the Northern Marianas College have been delayed in favor of students studying abroad. And there are legitimate reasons for this decision to give priority to those who are studying in Guam, Hawaii and the US mainland.

The scholarship office is concerned that students abroad, a lot of whom live in rented apartments, may be evicted if they don’t receive their scholarship assistance on time. It should be understood that unlike students here, who can rely on family and relatives for shelter, off-island students don’t much of a choice in this regard. Their personal welfare is at stake in that there’s hardly any relatives who can feed or shelter them when every penny is gone. Some may be working but what little they earn is funneled to meeting basic and incidental needs. Students here at home can, again, lean on the family, friends and relatives for food and shelter.

The scholarship office has been up to par with its responsibility by informing colleges and universities on Guam and Hawaii to accept registration of NMI students as it prepares their scholarship money for subsequent remittance. These institutions have accepted such word of confidence from the local scholarship office and have registered NMI students accordingly.

Here at home we have once again turned a perceptual mold into a mountain. Under the current fiscal year budget, all instructors’ salaries at NMC are budgeted and paid for; therefore, nothing is going to deter their teaching regardless of whether there are funds for tuition fees and books right here and now. Some creative solution must be found and we strongly recommend that students be accepted and classes started on time by KITING payment of tuition fees until funds are actually available. Is this so hard to effect on a cooperative basis amidst the current financial crisis?