The U.S. Department of the Interior’s Office of Insular Affairs (OIA) announced a new grant that will guarantee in-state tuition rates for Micronesian citizens to colleges in the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE). The list of Western colleges that are part of the program can be found at this link: https://www.wiche.edu/tuition-savings/wue/wue-savings-finder/. The full news report from the Department of the Interior is as follows:
“The U.S. Department of the Interior’s Office of Insular Affairs announced a payment of $174,900 in Technical Assistance Program (TAP) fiscal year 2022 grant funding to the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE) for membership fees for the benefit of American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and the Republic of Palau.
“We are especially pleased that this funding helps provide opportunities for capacity development and higher education,” said Deputy Assistant Secretary for Insular and International Affairs Keone Nakoa. “We encourage administrators and teachers in the insular areas to notify students of the new opportunities across institutes of higher education, especially as students from the Insular Areas are underrepresented across institutes of higher education in the United States.”
Membership in WICHE provides opportunities for students from the insular areas to participate in ongoing initiatives related to higher education, workforce development, and behavioral health. This new collaboration also guarantees in-state tuition rates for students from the territories and the freely associated states at hundreds of institutes of higher education across the Western region of the United States.”
