The government has no money to provide funding assistance to Northern Marianas College this year, but it needs to suspend scholarship grants this summer and slash financial aid to off-island students just to be able to accommodate its immediate needs.<\/p>\n
This is the assessment of the Tenorio administration to the House committee of Health, Education and Welfare on its request to set aside some funds for the cash-strapped college which has asked $575,000 in additional appropriation to cover tuition and other expenses of some 530 students this spring semester.<\/p>\n
“It doesn’t look good,” committee chair Rep. Heinz Hofschneider told NMC officials at the resumption of the oversight hearing on the state college yesterday. “I’m sorry, there is no additional revenues.”<\/p>\n
Finance officials, however, recommended that the legislature amend existing laws providing scholarships to off-island students to cap the grants down to a maximum of $15,000 per year effective this fall semester and inclusive of all expenses such as tuition and board.<\/p>\n
They also proposed a suspension of financial assistance for this summer for all students whether attending NMC or U.S. universities to help boost funds of the CNMI’s lone higher learning institution.<\/p>\n
The ceiling is needed to stop some students studying abroad from spending as much as $30,000 in public funds for their education each year, a practice that has strained the dwindling local coffers at a time of a tight financial condition, said Vicky Villagomez, acting special assistant for Management and Budget.<\/p>\n
The reprogramming of funds will partly address shortfall in the Educational Assistance Program for NMC as well as the projected deficit of $128,784 for other scholarship grants this fiscal year.<\/p>\n
Villagomez said savings of approximately $342,000 will be drawn from the two recommendations which need to be approved quickly by the Legislature.<\/p>\n
But she cautioned the proposal is “a short-term solution” to the financial dilemma facing NMC and the CNMI Scholarship Office.<\/p>\n
“Overall reform legislation is being drafted in a joint legislative and administrative effort for implementation by the beginning of the next academic year,” she explained.<\/p>\n
The recommendations were brought up during a meeting between Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio and key finance officials stemming from a request last week from the House panel to identify funds which could be funneled into the college.<\/p>\n
The administration, however, expressed doubt that the $488,000 from poker license fees allotted earlier by the Saipan legislative delegation to the scholarship program will be realized due to shortfall in actual collections.<\/p>\n
So far, only $4.8 million have been generated in revenues initially estimated at $6 million based on anticipation of 1,000 machines.<\/p>\n
“The collections are insufficient to accommodate any additional appropriation made within the estimated revenue without having to make substantial reductions to the departments and agencies,” Villagomez said.<\/p>\n
Spawned by the worsening economic crisis on the island that has pulled down revenues in the last one and a half years, Tenorio has cut spending level of all departments and agencies, except the Public School System, by 13.4 percent to prevent huge budget deficit by end of FY 1999.<\/p>\n
“We must realize that the government cannot continue to provide the same financial assistance provided because our revenues have drastically changed to a downward trend,” the budget official said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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