No money for scholars •Suspension of off-island grants given some thought

The government has no money to provide funding assistance to Northern Marianas College this year, but it needs to suspend scholarship grants this summer and slash financial aid to off-island students just to be able to accommodate its immediate needs.

This is the assessment of the Tenorio administration to the House committee of Health, Education and Welfare on its request to set aside some funds for the cash-strapped college which has asked $575,000 in additional appropriation to cover tuition and other expenses of some 530 students this spring semester.

“It doesn’t look good,” committee chair Rep. Heinz Hofschneider told NMC officials at the resumption of the oversight hearing on the state college yesterday. “I’m sorry, there is no additional revenues.”

Finance officials, however, recommended that the legislature amend existing laws providing scholarships to off-island students to cap the grants down to a maximum of $15,000 per year effective this fall semester and inclusive of all expenses such as tuition and board.

They also proposed a suspension of financial assistance for this summer for all students whether attending NMC or U.S. universities to help boost funds of the CNMI’s lone higher learning institution.

The ceiling is needed to stop some students studying abroad from spending as much as $30,000 in public funds for their education each year, a practice that has strained the dwindling local coffers at a time of a tight financial condition, said Vicky Villagomez, acting special assistant for Management and Budget.

The reprogramming of funds will partly address shortfall in the Educational Assistance Program for NMC as well as the projected deficit of $128,784 for other scholarship grants this fiscal year.

Villagomez said savings of approximately $342,000 will be drawn from the two recommendations which need to be approved quickly by the Legislature.

But she cautioned the proposal is “a short-term solution” to the financial dilemma facing NMC and the CNMI Scholarship Office.

“Overall reform legislation is being drafted in a joint legislative and administrative effort for implementation by the beginning of the next academic year,” she explained.

The recommendations were brought up during a meeting between Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio and key finance officials stemming from a request last week from the House panel to identify funds which could be funneled into the college.

The administration, however, expressed doubt that the $488,000 from poker license fees allotted earlier by the Saipan legislative delegation to the scholarship program will be realized due to shortfall in actual collections.

So far, only $4.8 million have been generated in revenues initially estimated at $6 million based on anticipation of 1,000 machines.

“The collections are insufficient to accommodate any additional appropriation made within the estimated revenue without having to make substantial reductions to the departments and agencies,” Villagomez said.

Spawned by the worsening economic crisis on the island that has pulled down revenues in the last one and a half years, Tenorio has cut spending level of all departments and agencies, except the Public School System, by 13.4 percent to prevent huge budget deficit by end of FY 1999.

“We must realize that the government cannot continue to provide the same financial assistance provided because our revenues have drastically changed to a downward trend,” the budget official said.