The reason for this, according to Chur L. Oiph, Scholarship Coordinator, is that a lot of local students who are taking up courses at Palau Community College (PCC) did not apply for scholarship grants.
“There is a limited number of years that an undergraduate student can avail of the programs at the Palau National Scholarship Board,” Oiph said.”So if they’re planning to go out of the country to study, they want to make sure that they have enough funding to finish their course. If they enroll at PCC for two or three years, when they go to study abroad, they have only one or two years left to avail of the program.”
According to Chur, for those who are taking courses at Palau Community College, right now, “I guess they don’t really need our assistance.”
For PCC scholars, they only award $250 per semester or $500 per year. “It’s just minimal, so some kids decided not to apply for the program.”
She added that the number could still go up. “But for now, there are only about 19 students who availed of our program, compared to about 60 to 80 students in previous years. So the number has dropped,” Oiph explained.
Oiph said it’s a good thing because the kids are realizing that they need the money more when they go outside of the country to study.
The first part of the screening was finished and awards are being processed. “They’re not ready yet, but they are being processed,” Oiph said.
Out of the 200 applicants, 126 are being awarded scholarships. “Some were declined, some are still pending.”
The Scholarship’s Board Members are Caroline Skebong, Lorenza Olkeriil, Steven Victor, Priscilla Subris, Dr. Francisca Soaladaob, Maria Joseph. One position is still vacant. Out of the six, three were selected to be part of the screening committee who reviews all the applications — the transcript of records, the supporting documents, the students’ GPAs.
“Every single application is evaluated by the screening committee and they submit it to the Board for approval. Once the selection has been approved, that’s the time that we go to the Finance for the check,” Oiph explained.
Right now, there are few students who are majoring in the primary fields, such as law and medicine. “These kids get the maximum award,” Oiph said. For those enrolled in the primary fields, they get $20,000 per year. For those who are majoring in other fields, such as education, they get approximately $12,000 per year.
But they have to maintain their GPA, according to Oiph. “For Palau Scholarship, its 3.0; Palau Grant, 2.5; and student loan, 2.0,” she said.
