With 2016’s 30-day Legislative Session finally at an end, University of New Mexico students can rest in peace knowing that the Legislative Lottery Scholarship is safe ... that is, at least for the next fiscal year.
As it currently stands, the Lottery Scholarship, which was created 20 years ago by Sen. Michael Sanchez to help create access to education for New Mexico students, is facing a cliff in the upcoming year. If changes weren’t made to the amount of revenue for the Lottery Scholarship Fund, the scholarship would go from subsidizing 90-95 percent of UNM lottery recipients’ tuition in school year 2016-17 to 60-65 percent of tuition in school year 2017-18, a drastic 30 percent reduction.
To attempt to protect our students from what would be a very harsh blow to their bank accounts, ASUNM teamed up with ASNMSU and the NM Tech SGA (the student governments from both NMSU and NM Tech.) We came up with ideas to help create solvency for the Lottery Scholarship and spent many hours in Santa Fe lobbying for YOUR access to education.
Although there were various Senate and House Bills revolving around the Lottery Scholarship, some that we were in favor of and others that we were not, only one was passed this year. Senate Bill 79, sponsored by Sen. Sanchez, was passed by the Senate and states that unclaimed lottery prizes, which have been approximately $2.85 million over the past five years, would be transferred to the Lottery Tuition Fund rather than remaining in the hands of the New Mexico Lottery Authority.
This would result in an approximate seven percent increase in deposits for the Lottery Scholarship, which is roughly $90 per student. ASUNM is in support of this and we are now joining forces with ASNMSU and NM Tech SGA in order to urge Gov. Susana Martinez to sign this bill into law.
Although there wasn’t much progress in the full solvency of the Lottery Scholarship this year, large steps were taken to have those difficult conversations, and ASUNM will not stop fighting for YOUR access to education.
We will be hosting a Lottery Think Tank in April to continue discussion on solvency and to brainstorm further ideas we can take forward to the Legislature next year. More information will be available about this event in the upcoming month.
As always, if you have any questions, comments or concerns about the Lottery Scholarship, please come talk to us at ASUNM. We are here to support YOU and your education first and foremost.
The weekly ASUNM column is written by ASUNM’s 2015-16 President Jenna Hagengruber and Vice President Alexandra Cervantes. They can be reached at asunmprez@unm.edu.
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