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NMC students still waiting for grant reimbursements
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Posted on Aug 04 2004
At least 170 Northern Marianas College students have yet to receive Pell Grant reimbursement for the school fees they paid in academic year 2003-2004.
Kurt Barnes, NMC dean of student development, yesterday said some 70 students will get their reimbursement before the end of this month, while another batch of 100 students will receive theirs in early September.
“We are still trying to get money from last year,” Barnes said. “The third batch of students’ files are now being reviewed by the [U.S. Department of Education’s] San Francisco regional office. We’re expecting to get the money by the end of August.”
He reported that the first two batches of Pell Grant awardees received their reimbursements in April and in early June, respectively. The fourth of about five batches will be reimbursed in the first week of September, he said.
The delay in the issuance of Pell Grant funds stemmed from the federal government’s decision to place NMC on Pell reimbursement status—instead of advance status—due to the college’s failure to submit audits on time in the last four years.
The U.S. Education Department later said the reimbursement status would be lifted as soon as NMC submits three consecutive batches of student files, which contain an error rate of 10 percent or less.
But Barnes expressed hope that the college would be taken off from reimbursement status by the end of September. He noted that NMC’s audits are now in order and up-to-date. The college is now also reviewing the students’ Pell Grant files before sending them to San Francisco.
Pell Grant provides college funding to low-income students nationwide, either individually or through college. Pell Grant awards are given to undergraduate students pursuing an Associate or Bachelors degree.
NMC receives an average of about $2,000 in Pell funds a year. The award increases every year to compensate for higher tuition costs as well as other increased educational expenses.
