NMC program gets $1M fed grant

The Student Support Services Program of the Northern Marianas College was recently awarded a federal grant worth $1 million.

Board of Regents member Mark Mendiola said that NMC won the grant in competition with other applicants.

“With proposed federal budget cuts in educational programs, there is ample reason for a small group of NMC staff and students to be smiling around the As Terlaje campus,” he said.

Mendiola said the NMC Student Support Services Program is one of three SSS programs in the Pacific region that was awarded the federal TRIO grants during the latest grant competition. The grant, which will be given to the program spread out in four years, will be used on the three NMC campuses to assist underprivileged and under-served students.

Mendiola said the SSS program is a federally funded program at NMC, which offers support services to students of low-income families, first generation college students, and students with disabilities.

“The program assists students with basic college requirements, and serves to motivate students toward the successful completion of their postsecondary education. The SSS program may also provide grant aid to current SSS participants who are receiving federal Pell Grants.”

One of the major goals of SSS is to increase college retention and graduation rates of its participants and facilitate the process of transition from one level of higher education to the next.

Since its inception at NMC in the late 1980s, the SSS program has served more than 1,500 students already.

Mendiola said that services provided by the program include: instruction in basic study skills; tutorial services, academic, financial, or personal counseling; assistance in securing admission and financial aid for enrollment in four-year institutions; information about career options, mentoring; and special services for students with limited English proficiency

He is inviting NMC student to avail of this program, but to be eligible for the program, a participant must be a citizen of the United States, or citizen of the Federated States of Micronesia, Republic of Palau, or Republic of the Marshall Islands.

For more information, interested students can contact Nick W. Benjamin or Clarice Deleon Guerrero at 234-5498 ext. 1275 or 1276. (Marconi Calindas)