SHEFA OKs full awards for Framingham graduates

The Saipan Higher Education Financial Assistance has approved the granting of full scholarship awards for Framingham State University Cohort 8 graduates intended for them in Fall 2010 semester.

Board of directors chair Jose Mafnas and board member John Tenorio told Saipan Tribune after Friday’s meeting that the decision was reached to finally put the issue to rest and in consideration of the continuous pleadings of the affected students.

Sixteen students who graduated from Framingham State University Cohort 8 in Fall 2010 were earlier denied of their financial assistance as a result of budget shortfalls. The new SHEFA board also ruled that the masters students are not priority recipients of the program.

Due to this earlier denial, the group appealed to the new SHEFA management and its board citing the move was unfair.

Prior to Friday’s meeting, administrator Henry Hofschneider said he will recommend the awarding of the grants but in a reduced amount because of funding shortfall. However, the board voted last Friday the awarding of the full amount due the students.

Darrah Tagabuel, one of the nine students who were present on Friday’s meeting, told Saipan Tribune that the group was appreciative of the decision made by the board and expressed gratitude to its administrator for giving them the opportunity to be heard.

Tagabuel said the resolution of their case was result of a series of dialogues with SHEFA management and the board. They expect the check assistance to be issued as soon as funds are certified available by the Department of Finance.

For grant-in-aid recipients, the board approved $1,200 award and $1,500 for field of study recipients. For those graduates under the incentive program, they will receive the same award of $2,000. These rates were based on the level approved by the board last Fall 2010 semester.

Framingham graduates were earlier denied their awards due to funding shortfall for the scholarship programs, even if these were approved by the previous SHEFA board. The affected scholars claimed they are fully entitled to the award because they all met the requirements of SHEFA. The previous board, they claimed, had promised to reimburse their expenses once the awards are available.

SHEFA needs $75,200 to pay these masters students and will utilize the “cancelled checks” earlier issued by the program.