Hart justifies budget demands; cites NMC’s decreased funding

Direct appropriations for the Northern Marianas College have gone down despite the increase in its student population over the last several years, according to its president, Dr. Sharon Hart, yesterday.

“Ever year since 2009 our budget has been going down but our student enrollments have been going up,” she said.

According to data provided by the college, in fiscal year 2009, full-time students numbered above 600 with appropriated funds around $4.6 million. The next fiscal year, funds remained about the same while student number increased to around 800. Again, in the next two years, the student count rose, with numbers reaching around a thousand. The count exceeded that number in 2013.

However, the data given also shows a significant drop in appropriations for the college in those last three years, as the 2011 drop in funds to $4.5 million fell even further to below $4.1 million for fiscal years 2012 and 2013.

“What that means is that the [money the college has] to educate every student is going significantly down every year,” Hart said.

She said this funding trend puts the college in an “extremely challenging position,” as it tries to help the community meet its workforce needs.

On Tuesday, college officials met with Senate lawmakers to discuss the currently appropriated $4.934 million given by the government for the college.

Hart’s statement at that meeting—that without an increase in the currently allotted budget, NMC might have to put on hold its new business program as well as raise tuition by 30 percent—was characterized by some lawmakers “threatening” or “holding hostage the budget.”

Hart clarified yesterday that “we don’t want to alarm any students that we’re not going to run the bachelor’s degree. Our goal is to do it.”

On a possible tuition hike, Hart said that because of the current budget on the table and the decrease in funds over the years, raising tuition may “be the only option we have left on the table.”

The current appropriated budget for the college sits at $4.394 million.

According to her, the College Access Challenge Grant for 2015, which the college has received the last five years, requires the college to have a minimum of $5.15 million for its maintenance-of-effort mandate.

Hart said the grant provides $1.5 million to the college every year, and that before the college started receiving the grant, less than 20 percent of students from the Public School System transitioned to NMC.

Now, she said, the number is more than 40 percent, and that the goal of the grant is to assist colleges in enrolling low-income students and ensuring they succeed in college.

Hart said without the minimum MOE met, the college would lose the waiver of $1.5 million that it has been receiving and will have to pay the cost in full.

She said the grant helps cover 30 student service positions within the college that include counselors, tutors, financial aid officers, admissions and records officials, among other things.

“With that [potential] $1.5 million deficit, there are going to be significant cuts,” she said.

Hart stressed that the $7.86 million budget NMC has proposed is a “budget based on our needs.”

She dismissed a senator’s suggestion that the money collected from tuition is stored as some kind of secret or cushion fund for the college.

She clarified that the $3 million from student tuition is used to pay adjunct instructors as well as the significant cost in utilities or repair.

Currently, the college’s CUC cost is about $600,000—a drop from $800,000—which was brought about from a cost-savings plan implemented across the college.

She also spoke on the college’s accreditation, noting that NMC will be evaluated in the next three years.

“[The commission looks at] the fiscal sustainability of our institution. They want to ensure that fiscally we have the resources that will help the college fulfill its mission. So we need to have a sustainable level of funding,” Hart said.

Currently, the college is preparing data to show how its funds are being distributed and used.