By Moneth G. Deposa
Variety News Staff

ENROLLMENT for Northern Marianas College’s spring semester dropped to 850 this year from 1,100 in 2006, according to preliminary data obtained by the NMC president’s office.
Acting NMC President Danny Wyatt believes that the CNMI’s present economic situation is one of the major causes of the drop in enrollment.
“Three years ago, NMC had about 1,300 students. (It’s down this year) partly because of the economy and because we have lost several families who have moved out (of the island). We have also lost employees, and (some students have joined) the military,” he said.
But Wyatt is optimistic that the numbers will increase in coming days due to late enrollments and the implementation of training programs.
“The minimum number we’re looking for is about 900. I think we dropped by about 50 students as we have 850 now. But still the number will change because of the training programs that we’re going to have,” he said.
These programs include those for Department of Public Safety personnel.
Wyatt said as enrollment has decreased on Saipan, the Tinian and Rota campuses marked a 50 percent increase in their populations.
Tinian now has 34 students while Rota has 22.
Wyatt said this semester, the college has full classrooms — 15 or 16 students for each class.
Mark Mendiola, special assistant to the NMC board of regents, said it is the college’s objective to work closely with Education Commissioner David Borja and “generate more enrollees.”
“We want NMC to become their option…not a choice. The acting president, to encourage students to enroll on campus, is meeting with PSS to see what can be done to assist each other in terms of successful planning,” Mendiola said.
He said graduating public high school students will be encouraged to consider enrolling at NMC.
“We want them to consider going first to NMC before opting for othe routes like the military,” he said.
NMC will also work on increasing the number of its international students, he added.