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SHEFA scholarship checks are now being disbursed on time
Government scholars used to wait months in order to receive their checks. A different scenario now plays out at the Saipan Higher Education Financial Assistance, with the timely disbursement of financial grants to scholars.
SHEFA administrator Merissa S. Rasa reported to the board during its recent meeting that the Department of Finance is now “very responsive” in issuing checks to scholars.
In fact, she said, there are only a few pending checks at Finance as of March 20.
According to Rasa, the grants distributed to scholars as of March 20 totaled $845,300 covering recipients for spring 2014. SHEFA’s remaining fiscal year 2013 budget is approximately $1.1 million, which will be used for this spring 2014 semester.
For this semester, SHEFA received a total of 1,237 applications. The bulk came from college and university students here and abroad. Applications for this term include 305 new students, 80 returning recipients, and 852 ongoing students.
As of March 20, Rasa said that 437 of these applications have so far been approved. Denied applications total 793 while five applications remain pending. Two applications are up for appeal.
Rasa reported that 30 applications were received from students of the Northern Marianas Trade Institute. Of this number, 25 have been denied while two are pending for approval.
NMTI applicants include three from automotive, four from construction, four from culinary arts, seven from electrical, eight from hotel and restaurant management, and four from the mechanic program.
Though it is committed to providing assistance to NMTI students, SHEFA has yet to come up with a final policy for vocational and trade scholars.
SHEFA was created in 2004. It has three scholarship programs: grant-in-aid, field of study, and incentive awards. Its funding comes from poker license fees collected by the government. Each fiscal year, the program is budgeted $3 million.
SHEFA provides financial aid not only to undergraduates pursuing associate or baccalaureate degrees but also those who wish to pursue a master’s or doctorate degree. All financial assistance are awarded twice a year: during the fall and spring terms.
