The CNMI Scholarship Office board of directors on Feb. 20 unanimously approved the reduction of scholarship grants to its more than 600 recipients starting in the spring semester.
Of the 666 approved recipients, over 300 NMC students will be affected by the cut, CSO Administrator Rose Camacho said.
“It’s really critical that our students receive scholarships because many of them rely on the funding to be able to continue their education at the college,” Eliptico said. “We’re helping them by being flexible and meeting with individual students and working with their individual situations so that we can extend the kind of assistance that they need.”
He said there are other options for students, and these include the Saipan Higher Education Financial Assistance or SHEFA program, the Federal Pell Grant Program, and other private financial aid programs, such as those provided by the Tan Siu Lin Foundation.
NMC, he said, regularly conducts “Cash for College,” a workshop that assists students and their parents in maximizing scholarship opportunities.
“We will make certain that they are maximizing all those funding opportunities so that they don’t lose any kind of financial assistance or they can make it up by applying for other grants and applications. I encourage all our students to make sure that they are applying for all the programs and services in case there is a reduction in any of the other services,” Eliptico said.
