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NMC asks Legislature to leverage debt amount
The Northern Marianas College aims to build an estimated $8.5 million “Community Services and Student Learning Center” and looks to the Legislature to annually appropriate $500,000 to help pay this obligation.
The college presented a draft House joint resolution to the Legislature earlier this week, outlining their aim. The resolution notes that it is in the public interest to construct the proposed building and move forward with other capital improvement projects at NMC. It notes that on or after 2016, 2,000 full-time equivalent and 3,000 part-time equivalent students are estimated to attend NMC.
NMC was originally built as a hospital in 1959, and became a college in 1986, according to the draft. The college has not undergone major reconstruction since this time. Right now, it has student enrollment of over 1,200 FTEs and an average of 2,000 part-time students.
The college also presented a draft bill to legislators that establishes a “Northern Marianas College Facilities and Maintenance Fund” for depositing of the proposed annual $500,000 commitment from the Legislature.
Ahead of these drafts, the college and Board of Regents met with U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Joseph Diego to discuss opportunities under the Rural Development grant. The $8.5 million is being sought under this grant.
If the CNMI goes down this funding route, it would parallel Guam, where the University of Guam and Guam Community College have availed of the Community Facilities Direct and Guaranteed Loan program under the USDA’s Rural Development program. UOG has borrowed $13.5 million over 40 years at 4.5 percent interest, and GCC has borrowed $3.5 million.
UOG services this debt through a combination of commitment from the Guam Legislature for an annual appropriation of $500,000 per year for the life of the loan, $200,000 from the UOG Endowment Foundation, and $50,000 from internal revenue sources. GCC services its loan through revenues from tuition and fees.
