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Mafnas steps down as SHEFA board chair
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Posted on Jun 05 2012
Saipan Higher Education Financial Assistance board chair Jose C. Mafnas stepped down yesterday, fulfilling his promise to occupy the post for only a year.
Mafnas will, however, remain on the board as a member.
Elected as new board chair yesterday is incumbent vice chair Josephine Sablan.
Vina Saures will keep her post as board secretary and treasurer.
Besides Mafnas, Sablan, and Saures, other board members are John Tenorio, and Ursula Aldan.
The board also welcomed yesterday SHEFA’s new administrator, Merissa Seman-Rasa, who replaced Henry Hofschneider.
Hofschneider moved back to the Saipan Mayor’s Office. A full-time employee of the Office of the Mayor, Hofschneider served as part-time SHEFA administrator but was paid by the mayor’s office.
The board disclosed that Seman-Rasa’s salary, along with one permanent full-time employee, will be paid directly from the SHEFA budget.
In her first meeting with the board, Seman-Rasa provided a brief report about the most pressing issues and concerns that she felt should be addressed. She highlighted three areas that she wants prioritized: the application procedures and check processing to make sure that awards are released in a timely manner; record keeping; and student tracking, which comes with compliance, repayment, and collection.
To date, 25 checks for scholars are still pending for release: two for fall 2010; four for fall 2011; and 19 for spring 2012. Seman-Rasa estimates the total value of pending awards at $51,100, with no concrete information as to when it will be released.
