25 Jan 2010

American Samoa bill ties scholarship to service

7:34 am on 25 January 2010

Another bill has been introduced in the American Samoa House of Representatives to require students receiving government scholarships to return and work in the territory.

According to the bill the period of employment shall be equal to the number of scholastic years financed by the Student Financial Aid Fund.

The bill says that all students receiving government scholarships must return and work in the public or private sector and this would include employment with a non-profit organization or service in the US Armed Forces or with the federal government.

Students who do not return will have to repay the full amounts of their scholarships plus interest.

A similar bill was introduced in the last Fono session but was never reported out of committee.

There is no provision in the bill for the government to make jobs available for scholarship students.