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NMC students to directly get scholarship funds
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Posted on Aug 12 2004
The Northern Marianas College has granted the students’ request to be “treated as adults,” allowing them to directly receive and manage their own CNMI scholarship money.
NMC president Antonio V. Deleon Guerrero said the students made the request in view of the delay in the issuance of their Pell grant awards, which caused the students to become increasingly dependent on the CNMI scholarship.
Under current practice, the college asks scholarship recipients to sign a form allowing for their scholarship checks to be disbursed through the college for payment of their outstanding tuition and fees, and book charges.
Only the money left from these charges eventually goes to the students.
“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 [demand] that they pay everything when they register,” Deleon Guerrero said.
To implement this new policy, Deleon Guerrero asked the CNMI Scholarship Office to disregard all release forms submitted by the students for their Fall 2004 scholarship checks.
“Our students have agreed to work with us to apply as much of their CNMI scholarship funds toward their tuition and fees and book charges as possible,” Deleon Guerrero told CNMI Scholarship Office executive director Melissa Guajardo in a letter. “The students have further agreed to make arrangements with the college to ensure that their outstanding balances are cleared by the end of the Fall 2004 semester.”
Upon the students’ suggestion, those with outstanding balances will not be allowed register for the Spring 2005 semester, he added.
For his part, CNMI Scholarship Advisory Board chair Roman Benavente said the students’ check should be out in two weeks or so.
Students get an average of $2,000 each year from the CNMI Scholarship Office.
In the meantime, they may charge the purchase of their books at the college bookstore starting today.
