SHEFA doubles grant amounts as applications soar

The Board of the Saipan Higher Education Financial Assistance has doubled the grant-in-aid amount to its qualified scholars at the beginning of Fall 2008 semester even as the number of new applicants reached around 600 this year, according to a statement from the Office of Saipan Mayor Juan B. Tudela.

The current rate is $600 for on-island and $1,000 for off-island scholars. This would mean that on-island scholars would get $1,200 in the next Fall term while off-island scholars would take $2,000.

The Mayor’s Office said SHEFA’s latest figure is an all time record high and a sharp contrast to the 200 applications received during the program’s inception in August 2004.

Records show that for the Fall 2008 term, a total of 4,062 applications were received, including 1,708 new and 2,355 continuing.

The lists also reveal that 2,044 applicants indicated an intention to pursue their college education on Saipan while 2,019 opted to study outside Saipan such as Guam, Hawaii and the U.S. mainland.

These data, the Mayor’s Office said, indicate there is a big preference by college students to study abroad than at home.

The 13th Saipan and Northern Islands Legislative Delegation under chair Pete Reyes and Speaker Heinz Hofscheider established the program, with current House Speaker Arnold Palacios as its principal author.

SHEFA provides supplementary financial assistance to qualified resident of Saipan, including the Northern Islands. Recipients are expected to return to Saipan after successfully completing a higher education.

Aside from doubling the grant-in aid amount, the SHEFA Board is also making preparations to promulgate regulations to govern part-time enrollment in accredited colleges and universities effective in Spring semester.

Discussions are being done about this loan program and a meeting of the members of the Legislature is scheduled this week.

The Mayor’s office said the SHEFA Board has already acted on the first four batches of completed applications last month, adding that the official request to process SHEFA checks was forwarded to the Finance Officer.

It said that SHEFA will begin sending out notices via email after the checks had already been processed by Finance and physically released by the Treasury.

SHEFA is wholly funded through poker operations on Saipan. The funds are taken from the amusement licenses and fees collected quarterly from arcade operators.