By Moneth G. Deposa
Variety News Staff

NORTHERN Marianas College is projecting about 1,100 students this spring based on the initial turnout in the enrollment this week.
“The initial turnout has been along the lines we expected,” said NMC chief financial and administrative officer Raaj Kurapati yesterday.
He said the college started its registration on Monday but it was limited to certain ongoing students enrolling in specific classes.
“We break the registration period into segments to ensure a smooth process,” he said. “We allow for certain classes of students to be registered on certain dates.”
Enrollment will continue through Saturday and NMC has set aside a couple of days next week for late registrants and enrollees, Kurapati said.
Last fall semester, NMC had over 1,000 students.
“We will have almost the same number of students…about 1,100,” he said.
Although the college is expecting newcomers, Kurapati said the bulk of the enrollment will still be ongoing students.
“We always have new students in all semesters but the bulk of these students join during the fall after their graduation from high schools,” he said. “But in the spring, we do receive new students but the majority are ongoing students.”
Kurapati is the acting president until Jan. 15.
The acting president, Danny Wyatt, and board of regents chairwoman Rita H. Inos flew to Washington D.C. yesterday to meet with Western Association of Schools and Colleges officials.
The two NMC officials are expected to be back this weekend.
Kurapati said their travel was funded under NMC’s operational budget.
“They will be appearing before the commission meeting on Jan. 10-12,” he said.
He refused to comment on NMC’s accreditation status.
“The decision is still up to WASC and until such time we actually receive word from WASC, it’s our position not to comment on our accreditation status,” he added.