$1.2M available through Mayor scholarship

The Saipan Higher Education Financial Assistance, under the Saipan Mayor’s Office, disclosed yesterday that funds totaling $1.2 million supporting grants and scholarships for school year 2004-2005 are currently available for college-bound or ongoing post secondary education students.

According to the SHEFA board, assistance through the program is intended for residents of Saipan and the Northern Islands. About 900 applications are currently available, however, the number of recipients has yet to be determined.

“The number of recipients would be determined after the application submission deadline on August 19,” said SHEFA board chair Felicidad T. Ogumoro.

Funds for the financial assistance is supported from fees collected from local license fees for poker and pachinko machines. Funding per recipient would be determined by the number of students granted.

Board member Jose C. Leon Guerrero indicated that grants would be prioritized to students majoring in the fields of accounting, nursing, education, counseling, business management and administration, hospitality and information technology including journalism, management information, computer programming.

All recipients, however, are required to maintain a cumulative Grade Point Average to continue to receive assistance from SHEFA.

Meanwhile, Ogumoro noted that full-time employees in the government sector would not be qualified for financial assistance.

“There will be no full-time employees of the CNMI government eligible for assistance under the program, inclusive of those that are going on education and training,” she said.

Also, all applicants must be a U.S. citizen or a U.S. permanent resident residing on Saipan at least a year before applying; must obtain a high school diploma or high school equivalent diploma; have a high school GPA of 2.5 or above; and is accepted or enrolled on full-time status by a U.S.-accredited college or university.

Further, the board disclosed that three categories of assistance have been identified—grant-in-aid, scholarship, and student loan.

Board advisor William Torres disclosed that students receiving loans through the program are obligated to pay back 25 percent of the amount and provide at least three years of service in either the private or public sector.

Torres said scholarship and grant recipients who do not return to Saipan after the completion of studies would then be obligated to repay the total amount received.

Torres added that the board would be working with the Saipan legislative delegation on possibly increasing the funds for the program in the future.

“We would work hard to possibly increase that to $2.5 million if not $3 million to have a level playing [field] among students from Saipan with the rest of the students. While that [$1.2 million] ballpark figure may look big, it really is not, but it’s better than zero,” he said.

SHEFA was organized pursuant to Saipan Local Law 13-21 on Feb. 3, 2004.