“It’s a very hard decision to make,” he said, adding that they “really want” to assist the students of Saipan and the Northern Islands.
But he said they cannot give “false hope” to the students.
“We can’t give what we don’t have,” he added.
SHEFA usually gets $3 million yearly for its programs from poker fee collections. But the number of poker machines has been declining over the years as the local economy continues to get worse.
During their meeting yesterday in the Saipan mayor’s conference room, the SHEFA board members approved the new funding levels for the financial assistance program.
On-island recipients of the grant-in-aid program will now receive $800 every semester.
Students studying outside the CNMI will now receive a grant-in-aid of $1,200 every semester.
Before, grant-in-aid recipients in the CNMI get $1,200 while those off-island receive $2,000.
Those who enroll at the Northern Marianas Trades and Institute will get $1,000 every year.
In the field study program, all recipients in the CNMI and abroad will now get $1,000.
Before, field study program recipients get $1,500.
For SHEFA’s financial incentive assistance, the on-island recipients will get $1,000 while the off-island recipients will receive $1,500. Recipients must maintain a 3.5 cumulative grade point average and have 12 or more credits.
Before, each recipient got $2,000.
During the board meeting, SHEFA Administrator Henry Hofschneider disclosed that 115 students had not received their grant-in-aid financial assistance checks.
He said SHEFA submitted a request to release the checks of 83 students to the Department of Finance on Dec. 23, 2010.
He said they requested for $99,600 based on the available funds that the department certified for disbursement.
SHEFA, he added, will submit a request of $41,200 next week for the remaining 32 students still waiting for their checks.
In the fall of 2010, Hofschneider said SHEFA released $324,000 to 270 CNMI recipients of the grant-in-aid program and $498,000 to 249 students studying abroad.
For the field of study program, he said SHEFA released $118,500 to 79 students in the CNMI, and $274,500 to 183 off-island students.
For the incentive program, he said they will release $284,000 to 142 recipients in the CNMI, and $240,000 to 120 students studying abroad.
If all the pending checks are released for the three programs, SHEFA will have provided $2,282,700 to qualified students in the fall of 2010, Hofschneider added.
