CNMI Del. Sablan advocates to maintain Federal Student Aid funding

CNMI Del. Gregorio Sablan is advocating for federal financial aid for college students amid proposed budget cuts in U.S. Congress. 

In a Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Development hearing, Sablan addressed the dire need to maintain federal aid for college students like the Pell Grant in the Marianas and across the nation. 

"The Pell Grant is also very important to my district where about 1,000 students attend the community college there and typically covers the cost of the tuition," Sablan said. 

He added, "What happens to those students who want to go to school, who should go to school, and yet do not have the resources to do it because we all these new ideas of how to reduce their funds, their student aid program?"

Sablan questioned, "What happens to our community and the investments we have done so far that made us the greatest nation on earth? It was not just from legacy admissions in colleges, was it?...and I think we are doing some things right and we should not do very much to hurt it."

The budget proposal from the Congressional majority includes scrapping funding for at least 60 programs including Federal Work Study which has education officials concerned.