“Expanding educational opportunities for CNMI students has always been one of my priority initiatives,” NMC President Carmen Fernandez said yesterday.
The program aims to increase the number of students who are Native Pacific Islanders or from low-income families to enroll, remain, and succeed in college.
Fernandez said NMCis extremely pleased that the grant was extended for another year so it can “continue to play a central role in helping our high school students enroll in higher education institutions.”
The program is administered and supported by NMC’s dean of student services, the director of counseling programs and services, two outreach counselors, and academic tutors who also serve as the program’s “ambassadors.”
“This is the second year that the College Access Challenge Project is being implemented at Northern Marianas College,” said Janice Tenorio, NMC dean of student services.
She said the U.S. Department of Education renewed the program due to the successful activities conducted in its first year.
The program provides need-based scholarships of up to $1,500 per semester to high school juniors, seniors, and first-year college students.
It also expands existing student support services and activities available within the community, including the “Unlock the Mysteries of Financial Aid,” which involves presentations and workshops to increase awareness of college financial aid.
Tenorio said other similar events sponsored by the program are the information sessions, the Senior Start Smart Seminars, Cash for College, and presentations by the program student ambassadors and outreach counselors at public high schools.
More than 2,000 information kits were released during the first year of the program and 66 scholarships were provided to eligible high school seniors who took college classes as well as first year college students at NMC, she said.
NMC is now accepting applications for College Access Challenge Project scholarships.
Application forms, along with supporting documentation, must be submitted no later than Sept. 15.
To be eligible, a student must be a high school junior, senior, or a first-year college student, with no more than 30 credits, a citizen or permanent resident of the U.S. or the Freely Associated States, demonstrate eligibility for the high school free meal, the reduced meal program, the federal Pell grant or other proofs of low-income status in the CNMI.
Program staff will host a scholarship information session today at 5 p.m. in Room D-1 at NMC to answer questions and assist students with completing their application forms.
To download a copy of the scholarship requirements and application form, visit www.nmcnet.edu. For more information, call Leo Pangelinan at 234-5498 ext. 1322, or e-mail [email protected].
