Tuition discount opens doors for Panamanian students

Panama Flag Raising

Edgar Peregrina Villalaz raises the Panamanian
flag during ceremonies at the Joyce and Harvey
White International Plaza.

Edgar Peregrina Villalaz of Panama City, Panama, was all smiles the day before Northwest Missouri State University’s Homecoming celebration as he proudly hoisted his country’s banner during the annual flag-raising ceremony on the Joyce and Harvey White International Plaza.

The plaza, modeled after the one outside the United Nations in New York City, is a symbol of Northwest’s commitment to international understanding and cooperation. In a similar way, Peregrina Villalaz symbolizes a promising new relationship between Northwest and his native country.

Peregrina Villalaz is the first student to attend Northwest under an agreement between the University and IFARHU, the Panamanian student loan agency.

The agreement waives non-resident tuition for up to 15 Panamanian students pursuing undergraduate degrees and up to 35 Panamanians pursuing graduate degrees, and allows those students to attend the University after paying the much lower Missouri resident tuition rate -- a savings of several thousand dollars a year.

“My life in Maryville so far has been great,” said Peregrina Villalaz, a pre-engineering major. “I like all the people here, and I’m in a fraternity now, Phi Sigma Kappa. They are like my family here, and I have made many other friends as well. This has been a great thing, a great opportunity.

“It is a great honor to be the first Panamanian (under the tuition waiver) at Northwest, and I feel like I’ve opened the doors so that more Panamanians can come here.”

The agreement with IFARHU came about through the efforts of Joe Cornelison, who serves as Northwest’s general counsel, and who has longstanding ties to Panama.

Cornelison was appointed deputy administrator of the Panama Canal Commission by President Bill Clinton in 1995 and served in that capacity until Dec. 31, 1999, when the United States transferred ownership of the canal to Panama. From 1985-’89 he was stationed in Panama as a U.S. Army officer.

Cornelison’s wife, Ella, was born in Panama and retired from the commission after spending most of her professional career with that organization. Her maternal grandfather, Aristides Arjona, held several senior government positions in the early years of the Republic.

“I have great fondness for Panama, and I believe there are a variety of opportunities for initiatives and relationships that will attract Panamanian students to Northwest as members of our growing international student body,” Cornelison said. “It is our hope that these initiatives will also create opportunities for our students who grew up in the United States to visit Panama along with members of our faculty.”

For more information about Northwest Missouri State University, go to www.nwmissouri.edu.

For more information, please contact:

Anthony Brown,
News Bureau Manager
E-Mail: abrown@nwmissouri.edu
Phone: 660.562.1704
Fax: 660.562.1900

Northwest Missouri State University
219 Administration Building,
800 University Drive
Maryville, MO 64468

Return to Previous Page