Majority of the beneficiaries of the Saipan Higher Education Financial Assistance fail to follow compliance rules.<\/p>\n
Scholarship administrator Rose Pangelinan told lawmakers Thursday that currently, as high as 60 percent of beneficiaries failed to respond back to SHEFA.<\/p>\n
A beneficiary is required to inform SHEFA of his or her status as part of a \u201ccompliance\u201d clause in the beneficiary\u2019s contract.<\/p>\n
Those who did not complete their education must also return the funds to SHEFA.<\/p>\n
But according to Pangelinan, SHEFA is saddled with issues regarding the ways to get in touch with SHEFA \u201cresources\u201d or those who benefit from the program.<\/p>\n
She said currently, the SHEFA has issued 230 notices for compliance but only 40 responded. \u201cSome graduates do not report,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Tracking down these \u201cresources\u201d is the big challenge that SHEFA is facing, the administrator said.<\/p>\n
She said she is in the process of hiring a dedicated staff to specifically address this concern.<\/p>\n
Sen. Sixto Igisomar (R-Saipan), in the meeting with SHEFA officials, said he wanted to know of the real role of SHEFA if \u201cit is just issuing checks.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pangelinan said it has been three years that SHEFA has been struggling with the concern, and its lack of dedicated resources to address this concern is the main challenge.<\/p>\n
When asked of more details, Pangelinan said about 50 percent of SHEFA beneficiaries are in the CNMI. The rest are elsewhere, either in the mainland or in other universities abroad.<\/p>\n
Pangelinan said once the hiring of dedicated personnel is completed, the SHEFA will hopefully be able to address this major concern.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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