CNMI students save $1.5M annually through WICHE 

07/08/2025 - CNMI students saved $1.5 million through the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education, or WICHE, Student Access Programs. 

“The membership in WICHE for the CNMI has been tremendously impactful,” said Frankie Elipitco, who is Vice President for Administration and Advancement at the Northern Marianas College. He is also one of three WICHE commissioners representing Pacific territories and the Freely Associated States. The CNMI has been a WICHE partner since 2012. 

Eliptico said a popular program of WICHE is the Western Undergraduate Exchange Program, or WUE. “It allows students who are residents of the CNMI to be able to go and attend a university within one of the Western states and be able to access discounted tuition rates. So that is less than the out-of-state tuition rate,” he explained. 

Students under WUE pay no more than 150% of the in-state tuition at partner institutions across the West.  The top out-of-state WUE schools for CNMI undergraduate students are the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (37), Portland State University (24), and Western Oregon University (11).

The Pacific pays membership dues to WICHE using a federal grant through the U.S. Department of the Interior. “The return on investment…is quite high. So I hope that the DOI considers that and considers the tremendous amount of impact this program has on our residents,” he added amid looming cuts to educational programs under the Trump administration. 

Eliptico emphasized that WICHE also serves graduate and professional students. The CNMI has one student at the University of Northern Colorado and another at Portland State University under the Western Regional Graduate Program, or WGRP.  Eliptico said WICHE also serves as a platform for advocacy and data sharing across educational institutions. 

The return on investment gained on CNMI WICHE annual dues of about $30,000 is calculated at 5,402%. 

Report by Thomas Manglona II