These were college students who apparently did not know that government programs must be funded and that funding must exist before it could be spent. They were also misinformed. Scholarship was, still is, not a “right.” What the CNMI Constitution actually said about education is this: “Every person in the Northern Mariana Islands has the right to free, compulsory and public elementary and secondary education within age and educational levels provided by law.”
Government scholarship programs are not entitlements. They are luxuries funded by taxpayers and handed out by politicians who want your votes.
These programs were created when the government believed it could afford them. Over a decade ago, however, funding sources began to shrink.
“The local economy is so dismal,” I wrote back then, “that some reporters are already running out of synonyms to describe it.” Compared to what we have now, the economy 12 years ago looked mighty fine.
But the politicians’ reaction to angry voters in 1999 was predictable: they caved in. Five years later, with the economy still in free fall, they enacted a law creating yet another scholarship program, SHEFA.
Now SHEFA and the rest of the government’s scholarship programs are in big trouble. They, like other government agencies, are scrambling for funds. And once again, the voters’ reaction is to demand their “right” to get their scholarship checks on time. They point out, once again, that their elected officials promised to be “pro-education.” As usual, instead of telling the truth — your government is broke; if you want to get your scholarship checks we may have to lay off your parents, aunties, uncles, brothers, sisters, cousins, etc. — politicians are mouthing platitudes, expressing concern and promising to “look into” the problem.
The entitlement mentality is fed to voters by politicians, true, but it is also gobbled up eagerly by voters. Not surprisingly, for politicians, problems must be “solved,” or addressed, within the election cycle, regardless of the long-term consequences of the “solutions.” Hence, CNMI lawmakers have passed a bill that “suspends” the ETC program until the austerity measures are lifted. This is not only demagoguery but an outright, shameless lie as well. It makes a promise that can never be fulfilled any time soon: the lifting of austerity measures; and it links the much despised work-hour reduction and payless paydays to the existence of the ETC program — as if ending it would solve the government’s financial problems which now amount to hundreds of millions of dollars. But make no mistake about it. As the government’s financial crisis deepens, the administration and the Legislature will find other ways to “reform” — that is, loot — the ETC program.
As for the troubled scholarship programs, there are now talks about providing loans to students. The scholars borrow from the bank and the CNMI government — yes, this virtually bankrupt government — will promise to release the scholarship checks…soon or someday. Again, not a permanent cure but yet another placebo from politicians who do not want to lose their jobs next year.
A decade ago, it was reported that then-Rep. Brigida DLG. Ichihara, “citing depleting government resources,” had introduced legislation to scrap six government financial aid programs and replace them with one comprehensive student loan program. That was the last time anyone heard about that bill. Politicians prefer to give away other people’s money that may or may not exist because they know that telling the truth to voters is like expecting a kid to thank you for feeding him spinach.
How long can the CNMI pretend that things as they are can continue? When will a politician acknowledge that government scholarship programs and, come to think of it, NMC have failed to achieve one of their supposed goals: to produce a local workforce that can replace nonresidents in the private sector? When will a politician admit that that will not happen until the CNMI creates an economy able to pay U.S. wages to U.S. educated workers? When will anyone on Capital Hill concede that what these unaffordable programs have produced are more future politicians, officials and bureaucrats for an impossibly bloated government?
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