Scholarship cuts attract more full-time students By MARIAN A. MARAYA

The CNMI Scholarship Office’s decision to terminate financial aid to Northern Marianas College part-time students surprisingly bore what college officials call a positive impact on CNMI’s lone post-secondary institution.

NMC Development and Alumni Relations Director Tony Guerrero, who earlier feared that the scholarship cuts would decrease student enrollment, expressed yesterday relief over the unexpected turn of events.

Director of Office of Admissions Records and Financial Aid Janice Tenorio said yesterday that 85 percent of the 934 total student head count for the fall semester comprise the full time equivalents.

“This is a very positive thing because the more students enroll on a full-time basis, the earlier they will get their degrees. And this way, they can land good jobs early and earn,” said Ms. Tenorio.

Official registration figures have listed a total of 9,556 total credits being taken by NMC students all over Saipan, Rota, and Tinian.

Mr. Guerrero said current semester’s student enrollment is already 60 percent of the 1,600 average number of students NMC usually registers per academic year.

“We are always aiming to surpass average figures and we’re hoping that our efforts at luring in more students are working,” said Mr. Guerrero.

According to the NMC director’s assessment, both students and parents have decided to beat the system due to the lack of financial aid for part-timers.

“I think most of them have decided to go full-time to take advantage of the financial assistance. . . and this is good for the college,” he said.

In the years prior to the current fall semester, full-time and part-time students normally shared close to 50-50 out of the total student enrollment, according to Mr. Guerrero.

Mr. Guerrero also attributes the increase in students taking up 12 or more credits to the college’s more comprehensive marketing efforts.

“I believe that the general community now is more aware about the accreditation status of the college. We are gaining more public confidence as a post secondary institution,” he said.

For the first time in the college’s history, NMC’s institutional development arm has devised of ways to promote the college’s programs to reach a varied range of audiences, according to Mr. Guerrero.

Meanwhile, NMC has also noted close to 30 students who discontinued and/or dropped out from the college during the week due to course conflicts, frustration from waiting in line, and lack of financial assistance to buy text books and tuition.