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UNM students found that when they attended Tuesday’s legislative session, there was very little mention of UNM on what was supposed to be UNM Day, and very little change in topics discussed from previous years.
For the second year in a row, students planned to lobby for causes such as Lottery Scholarship solvency, efforts to keep UNM graduates in state and capital outlay projects involving the renovation of University facilities.
Students broke into groups to speak one-on-one with legislators.
But due to the morning roll call of the House and Senate, which required representatives and senators to be present on the floor, many student groups were unable to find legislators to talk to.
One group of students managed to talk to Rep. Miguel P. Garcia (D-Albuquerque), a UNM alumnus, about Lottery Scholarship solvency.
The scholarship’s funds are expected to dry up by July of this year.
“It’s definitely a priority, it’s very integral to pursuing a degree,” Garcia said. “Without it, a lot of kids wouldn’t be able to graduate from college or even go to college.”
Senate Majority Whip Timothy Keller (D-Albuquerque), a major proponent of Lottery Scholarship solvency, also weighed in on the issue, saying that legislators are working to draft a bill addressing the issue. Keller said that both parties’ majority leaders are looking to freeze the amount a student receives from the scholarship each year.
“Let’s say that when you started, the lottery gave you $10,000. The state would continue to give you $10,000 each year that you’re in school,” he said. “Right now the $10,000 actually changes. So if tuition goes up, then we pay you $12,000, for example. So by the time you graduate, we’re paying you $15,000 because of tuition increases.”
Keller said this freeze will keep the scholarship from running out and make universities think twice before instituting tuition hikes.
“We think that the lottery is sometimes taken advantage of by universities because it’s basically easy money,” he said. “They can have a tuition increase and the lottery will pay for it.”
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On Tuesday evening, Representative James White (R-Albuquerque) introduced House Bill 309, also known as the Lottery Scholarship Solvency Program, into the House Education Committee. A hearing date had not been set as of press time.
The bill would make significant changes to the Lottery Scholarship structure, effective July 2013, requiring the scholarship maintain a balance of $10 million at all times, as well as mandating additional requirements.
In addition, the bill would reduce the amount of time a student has to receive his or her degree while receiving scholarship money from eight semesters to seven. The new guidelines would apply to students who have completed five semesters or fewer as of fall 2013. In addition, the bill would raise the minimum number of credits a student would have to have in order to be eligible for the scholarship from 12 to 15.
The bill also contains additional guidelines for students pursuing associate’s degrees and professional certification programs at community colleges. Students who have received scholarship money for two or fewer semesters as of fall 2014 would be eligible for only three more semesters of money while working toward their associate’s degree or toward a transfer to a four-year college.
The 15 credits per semester guideline would also apply to these students.
