NMC returns to ‘advance status’ with Pell

Here’s a piece of good news for the Northern Marianas College: The Pell Grant Program has reverted the college’s status to “advance status,” which means all is well again, at least in the administration of this grant program.

The status, said NMC president Tony V. Deleon Guerrero on Friday, means that NMC-screened student grant applications would be presumed to be correct before federal review and that relevant funds would be advanced to NMC students on a more timely basis.

“After many months of hard work, revamping our own internal systems, and negotiating with federal Department of Education officials, Northern Marianas College’s administration of federal Pell Grants has returned to normal,” Guerrero said.

Almost three years ago, on Feb. 7, 2003, federal officials placed NMC on “reimbursement status,” requiring that all Pell Grant applications be submitted to the U.S. Department of Education for review and approval prior to reimbursements. The status was upgraded to “cash monitoring” status in January 2005, where all such applications had to be reviewed by a third party certifier—RG Management in NMC’s case—before submission to the federal department.

“The college was initially placed on warning status in 2002 when several factors combined to concern federal financial aid officials: late audits, audit concerns, and deficiencies in the documentation of some student Pell Grant applications,” said Guerrero.

The downgrade in status from “advance” to “reimbursement” greatly slowed grant payment and had a considerable effect on NMC students and the college’s cash flow. He said all concerns raised by federal officials have already been answered to their satisfaction.

“It took a lot of work to accomplish this and I want to thank all those involved in Student Development and Finance, particularly those in Financial Aid and those that assisted them, for helping us get back to normal,” said the college president. “I certainly hope we never have to go through this hardship process again.”

NMC Director of Finance and Procurement Raaj Kurapati said that NMC worked hard over many months to address this situation and correct it.

“I’m glad we’ve succeeded. However, the need for us to ensure strict compliance with all U.S. DOE requirements is ever more critical, particularly when local revenues are stretched so tight,” he said.