New Mexico’s state-run universities’ and colleges’ primary task is educating New Mexicans. Unfortunately, many graduating New Mexico high school seniors have traditionally forgone pursuing higher education because they lack financial resources.
This all changed in 1995 when then freshman State Sen. Michael Sanchez (brother of Regent President Raymond Sanchez — who was Speaker of the House at the time) sponsored and got passed a bill creating the Lottery Success Scholarship.
The scholarship created a statewide lottery that pays for up to four years of tuition for New Mexico high school graduates who have a passing GPA and attend any of the state’s technical schools, two-year colleges or four-year universities upon graduating.
Although definitely a boon to New Mexico high school graduates, the Lottery Success Scholarship is not a panacea of higher education. It does not and was never intended to pay for textbooks, student fees, housing or food. Given the rate at which textbooks, student fees and housing has skyrocketed in recent years, affording higher education is challenging for New Mexico’s youth.
Making the rounds at the Legislature this session are three bills that could affect current or future recipients of the Lottery Success Scholarship.
First, the good news.
If House Bill 62, sponsored by Rep. Bill O’Neill (D-Albuquerque) is to become law, New Mexico graduating high school students will have 16 months to get their act together or have a job slinging burgers before their scholarship eligibility heads south forever.
This bill would extend the time period that students must enroll in college to 16 months after high school graduation. This is a good thing because not everybody is ready for college life straight out of high school, and it would behoove some incoming freshmen to get a little real-world experience before heading back into academia.
Unfortunately, the bill was tabled (this usually means “killed”) by the Senate Education Committee.
More bad news.
Senate Bill 292, sponsored by Sen. Stuart Ingle (R-Portales), would hurt the New Mexican youths with the fewest financial resources. This bill would freeze the amount of tuition the Lottery Success Scholarship would pay for at the rate in place during a student’s first semester. Do you remember how much that was when you first started UNM? Don’t forget the higher fees, while you’re at it. Can you afford the difference? If your answer is “no,” then you might want to speak up.
It gets even worse.
Senate Bill 226, sponsored by Sen. William Payne (R-Albuquerque), would make you indebted to the state for Lottery Scholarship tuition if you (the student) do “not maintain academic and other eligibility or drop out of college before graduation.” The bill does not make it clear how dropping out is defined. Does taking a semester or two off for work to scrape together the money to go back to school count?
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Regardless, I suspect getting extensions will require lengthy paperwork and the thorough shafting of those with other obligations (like a family or health issue). Please note that slightly more than 40 percent of UNM freshmen graduate within six years.
That means about 60 percent of undergrads reading this will owe the state money for their unfinished education under this bill.
The combination of both freezing scholarship amounts at a first-semester level and the threat of indebting students who don’t complete a four-year degree within an allotted time will create a chilling effect on potential college students who are academically uncertain and/or lack financial resources to pay for higher education.
As always, these students will tend to be those who come from disadvantaged backgrounds and are least likely to succeed in the first place — in other words, the people for whom the Lottery Success Scholarship was created.
Please call for your legislators to kill these bills.
