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Finance disburses $272K for fall 2010 SHEFA scholars
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Posted on Feb 23 2012
$138K for fall 2011 still pending
By Moneth Deposa
Reporter
Reporter
The Finance Department disbursed last Friday $272,400 worth of awards to scholars of the Saipan Higher Education Financial Assistance, according to SHEFA administrator Henry Hofschneider.
The amount, which covers 187 students for the fall 2011 semester, was the second disbursement from Finance’s Treasury Division since late December.
In the previous disbursement, 261 SHEFA scholars received $473,100.
Saipan Tribune learned that SHEFA submitted five eligibility lists for fall 2011 semester, totaling $884,200 for 528 beneficiaries. Still pending for disbursement are three eligibility lists: Nos. 3, 4, 5.
Due to poor fiscal state of the government, scholarship awards have been delayed for both SHEFA and the CNMI Scholarship Office recipients. Money for these awards come from poker fees and licenses.
Hofschneider disclosed during Tuesday’s board meeting that list No. 3 comprises 50 students with pending awards totaling $83,400. List No. 4 has 19 scholars that are awaiting their checks totaling $36,000. List No. 5 has 11 students with $18,100 in pending awards.
Hofschneider could not say as to when Finance will disburse these pending awards, citing the cash-flow problem of the local government.
Records obtained by Saipan Tribune show that the bulk of the $884,200 that SHEFA awarded for the fall 2011 semester is for grant-in-aid scholars, totaling $517,200. Field of study awards total $165,000, while incentive scholar awards total $202,000.
Hofschneider also disclosed Tuesday that for the fall 2010 semester awards, Finance released one of two award checks for two undergraduates whose names were misspelled in their fall 2010 award checks. This leaves only one check outstanding for the semester. On Feb. 17, Treasury released $2,000 for one of them.
He said he will continue communicating with the Treasury Division until the final check is released and disbursed to scholars.
