SENATOR Edith Deleon Guerrero on Wednesday prefiled Senate Bill 22-70, which proposes to waive the rule requiring recipients of government scholarship assistance to repay it if they can’t find work in the CNMI 90 days after getting a college degree.
Noting that the Covid-19 pandemic “has tremendously affected the state of the Commonwealth economy,” the bill states that CNMI scholarship recipients “need assistance to alleviate their dilemma of finding jobs when they return and those who are unable to complete their education plan [but] must pay the scholarship they received.”
S.B. 22-70 would waive the requirement to work for a public or private employer in the CNMI and the repayment of any outstanding scholarship assistance and loans.
In September 2008, then-Gov. Benigno R. Fitial signed a bill, which became Public Law 16-15, granting recipients of CNMI postsecondary education financial aid “forbearance in the collection of their debts if they are unable to find jobs in the public or private sector due to unavailability of…jobs…for as long as the recipient is unemployed and actively seeking employment.”
The CNMI Scholarship Office had opposed the measure, saying it was unnecessary and unfair to other scholars who had repaid their students loans.
The scholarship office also stated that there was already a process in place for granting forbearance to scholarship or loan recipients who were unable to meet their obligations to the CNMI due to some hardship.
Edith Deleon Guerrero
