SCHOLARSHIP FUND FIASCO ‘Don’t blame the executive branch’

Northern Marianas College officials were informed a year ahead of the implementation of a policy eliminating financial aid to part-time students which took effect in August this year, according to the governor’s special assistant for education.

Defending the Scholarship’s Office from criticisms over the policy, Dan Nielsen said the decision was reached in August 1998 as part of the administration’s efforts to boost funding for other scholarship programs of the government.

“Blaming us [now] is an outrage. The fault lies with the college, the financial office over there. They should have been counseling their students back in 1998 that this policy was taking effect,” he told reporters yesterday.

Nielsen was reacting on the statement made by NMC Dean of Student Services George Pangelinan who urged the Scholarship’s Office to revise the policy to help people in the community get access to higher education.

As a result, CNMI’s lone higher learning institution lost almost 200 part-time students who failed to enroll this year, forcing the college to cancel several classes.

NMC, however, was notified about the new requirements in September 1998. In fact, meetings were held until January this year between the college and the administration to try to deal with potential problems, according to Nielsen.

“They failed to notify their students. Their financial aid people continued to sign people up for part-time EAP when they knew there was none,” he explained. “Instead they continued to blame us and they continue to pretend that they never knew about it which is a lie. I am very upset.”

Under the new rule, only full-time students are qualified to receive Educational Assistance Program or EAP while those taking six credit hours or two courses per semester will no longer be covered by the locally-funded aid.

The move was intended to reduce spending by the government as the Tenorio administration has cut nearly half of its budget for the scholarship program — from $4.4 million last year to $2.3 million for FY 2000 to be shared among off-island and NMC students.

While the college receives federal funding through the Pell Grants, most of its enrollees rely on local assistance. NMC has also come under fire for allegedly pressuring students to get EAP so that it can raise revenues from tuition.

House Health, Education and Welfare Committee Chairman Heinz S. Hofschneider even urged the college to lower its tuition to help the students since it receives annual appropriation from the government on top of the EAP money.

Last August, Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio asked NMC to provide him statistics on the impact of the new policy in his effort to help the beleaguered institution.

So far, no information has reached his office, Nielsen said. “The college to this day has not provided a single statistic, no data whatsoever. It’s grossly unfair to come out and ignore policies and even encourage your students to apply for a program which you know is not available,” he added.

Noting NMC’s claims earlier that 600 students were forced to drop out, Nielsen said the 400 students who might have eventually enrolled through Pell Grants indicated they were eligible for other financial aid.