Students owe NMC $2.8 -M

Board of Regents Finance Committee Head Vince Seman has instructed the Northern Marianas College Business Office to step up efforts in collecting unpaid student fees which have grown to $2.8 million over the last four years.

Mr. Seman told the Business Office staff recover the remaining accounts receivables more seriously, even directing them to initiate legal action if necessary.

“While we understand the need to assist our students, we also have bills to pay,” said Mr. Seman during a BOR meeting yesterday.

Under NMC policies, students still with balances to settle are not granted credits for the course they took unless they pay their dues.

“Even if they have completed the course if they still have debts to settle at the college, they will not be allowed to graduate,” said NMC Alumni Relations Director Tony Deleon Guerrero.

The NMC official, however, expressed optimism that students will eventually pay their balance otherwise they will not be included in the graduating students’ list.

Mr. Guerrero said he empathize with students who failed to settle their unpaid account, saying the financial crisis in the last two years had made it more difficult for students to pay the fees on time.

But according to Business Office Comptroller Nestor Ablog, the accumulated accounts receivables have reached such level partly because of the lack of efforts to conscientiously collect the unpaid fees.

The majority of the $2.8 million beginning balance of 1999 is due to unpaid student fees as well as other sources, according to the Mr. Ablog.

“One way to resolve this is through developing well-structured promissory notes,” said the comptroller.

Meanwhile, Mr. Seman reported it also has some $40,000 in uncollected fees from another educational institution.

“We shouldn’t be releasing any credits unless NMA fulfills its obligations,” he said.

Earlier, NMC’s financial system crashed where the BOR had to mobilize two key college departments to restore its accounting system back to order.

Then faced with a troubled financial system, the college experienced difficulty balancing its revenue and expenditure statements.

Mr. Seman said experts have recommended that the college procure a new accounting software sufficient enough to handle the college’s financial records.