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Possible SHEFA aid for NMTI scholars to be decided soon
The Saipan Higher Education Financial Assistance is close to deciding whether to provide financial aid to students of the Northern Marianas Trade Institute.
SHEFA administrator Merissa S. Rasa told Saipan Tribune the amendments to SHEFA regulations that would address NMTI applicants seeking SHEFA assistance hasn’t been decided yet.
The SHEFA board earlier said it needs more information from NMTI in order to come up with a policy that would address the issue because SHEFA’s rules exclude grants for trade and vocational schools.
Rasa said that, as soon as this is determined by the Programs and Development Committee and Policy/Procedure Committee, she would have information on the issue at hand.
“We are hoping to complete this by the end of this month,” she said.
Rasa also disclosed that about 1,605 applicants have applied for SHEFA aid for the fall semester.
SHEFA applications for new applicants were due on July 1 and the deadline to submit supporting documents is on Sept. 30.
Rasa said that on-island students who are approved for grant-in-aid assistance will get $800 while off-island students will receive $1,200.
“As for the priority fields award, for on-island it is $1,000 and so is off-island. Then for the merit incentive award, on-island is $1,000 and off-island is $1,500,” she said.
Rasa said that they are now reviewing all applications.
“So far, the first batch that went up this week included less than 100 applications,” she said.
Rasa noted that as soon as more applications are completed, SHEFA will be able to review them and if approved they will be placed on a check request listing for submission to the Finance secretary for approval and processing.
“Every week starting this week, batches for check requests will be submitted to Finance secretary for processing until all awards are received, usually by mid-October,” Rasa said.
