Financial Assistance

Educational Assistance Program (EAP) - Commonwealth Register Rules & Regulations Link 

The CNMI Scholarship Office (CSO) was established for the purpose of assisting eligible residents who wish to pursue their post-secondary studies from within or outside of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI).  Also, CSO is committed to assisting and offering financial aid for those who wish to develop their skills at the Northern Marianas Technical Institute (NMTI), Latte Training Academy (LTA), or any trade institution in the United States or its territories.

Undergraduate

The CNMI Scholarship Office currently offers eligible applicants seeking to pursue their undergraduate degree within or outside of the Commonwealth the following for AY 2022/23:

  1. EAP Base Grant (EAPBG) is for all eligible full-time applicants regardless what the field of study.
  2. Marianas Employees Financial Aid (MEFA) is designed to assist eligible applicants who are employed full-time but wish to pursue their post-secondary studies or a certificate and are enrolled part-time at the Northern Marianas College or an accredited online program.
  3. Nursing School Scholarship is available for eligible Nursing majors pursuing an associate degree within/outside of the Commonwealth.
  4. WICHE Western Undergraduate Program (WUE) Student tuition savings at participating institutions.

Additional Undergraduate Programs

The following additional programs may be added to the qualified programs above based on student eligibility:

  1. STEM (fields related to Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math)
  2. Business (all related fields)
  3. Education
  4. Casino Management (all related fields)
  5. Nursing
  6. Culinary
  7. Cosmetology
  1. Minimum 3.5 GPA from the last award
  2. Enrolled in 15 or more non-repeated or non-developmental courses
  3. Major in one of the approved PFoS
  4. Must be a Junior or Senior

High School Programs

Commonwealth College Access Grant (CCAG) is available for eligible high school students wishing to accelerate into a college degree program at the Northern Marianas Colleges.

Graduate/Post-Graduate Programs

  1. Graduate School Student Loan Program (GSSL) is a loan available to eligible residents pursuing their graduate degrees.
  2. Professional Student Exchange Program is available for eligible graduate students pursuing a healthcare professional field.  For more details, please visit our PSEP page.

The above financial aid and amount are highly contingent upon the availability of funds, which are annually appropriated by the CNMI Legislature and available at the beginning of each fiscal year.  Award disbursement for Fall Term is processed within the week of the package's completion; however, due to the timing of funding appropriations, review, and award processing, disbursement time will take anywhere from 3 - 6 weeks.  Awards are all disbursed anywhere from 3-5 weeks after the opening of the fiscal year.  Based on prior academic years, Fall awards are normally released during the last week of October or 1st week of November. 

Effective Fall 2017, all Northern Marianas College (NMC) awards are processed through electronic funds transfer and CSO processing time is anywhere from 3-5 business days to NMC.  Recipients are encouraged to follow up with NMC after this period following receiving an "award ready for disbursement" notification from CSO Student Online Portal.

Effective Fall 2019, all University of Guam (UOG) awards are processed through electronic funds transfer, and CSO processing time is anywhere from 3-5 business days to UOG.  Recipients are encouraged to follow up with UOG after this period following receiving an "award ready for disbursement" notification from CSO Student Online Portal.

NOTE  Amounts vary year to year and is contingent upon availability of funds.  Only the Nursing School Scholarship and the WICHE Professional Student Exchange Programs (PSEP) are statutory programs with fixed amount.  Kindly see Award Amounts for more details.

Last Updated 10/16/2023