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McPhetres asks gov’t to continue funding scholarship program By MAR-VIC CAGURANGAN Staff Reporter
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Posted on Oct 21 1999
Outgoing college president Agnes McPhetres has expressed support for the Legislature’s proposal to boost funding for the government’s scholarship program, saying the Northern Marianas College is not yet prepared to offer higher education.
“As long as the government cannot provide the adequate higher education here in the CNMI such as the last two years of education, I think the government should be able to provide those assistance for students who want to pursue higher education,” said McPhetres, who is retiring as NMC president in December.
She also said the scholarship program should be made available to all students regardless of their families’ financial status.
Because of the serious cash flow problem, the administration recently overhauled the scholarship policy by capping the amount of grants given to off-island students and eliminating the Education Assistance for part-time students of NMC.
McPhetres opposes the new scholarship policy.
“Everybody pays taxes. People with more money pay more taxes. Those with less money pay less taxes. Everybody deserves equal treatment,” she said.
Members of the House Ways and Means Committee have proposed to raise the scholarship budget from $2.3 million to $4 million for FY 2000.
The additional money that would go to the scholarship fund would be taken from the proposed appropriations for the purchase of new computer hardware.
“By putting emphasis on education, [the Legislature] is moving toward the right direction,” McPhetres said.
“The development of human resources is the most important thing in any developing country and I consider CNMI as a developing country. We are quite new compared to other developed countries,” she added.
If the government wants the CNMI to progress, McPhetres added, it should continue providing financial assistance to local students.
