Tuition-free college for New Mexicans.
With the Opportunity and Lottery Scholarships, there are options for New Mexicans to pursue college and career training without worrying about the cost of tuition and fees.
Tuition-free college for New Mexicans.
With the New Mexico Opportunity and Lottery Scholarships, there are options for New Mexicans to pursue college and career training without worrying about the cost of tuition and fees.
What is tuition-free higher education?
With the Opportunity and Lottery Scholarships, New Mexico is home to the most generous and inclusive tuition-free college program in the United States!
New Mexico is increasing access to college degrees and career training programs, limiting or eliminating student debt, and promoting family and economic prosperity to strengthen our communities and state.
History
New Mexico was the first state in the nation to implement a tuition-free college program in 1996 with the Lottery Scholarship, which provides tuition-free college to recent high school graduates.
New Mexico was the first state in the nation to implement a tuition-free college program in 1996 with the Lottery Scholarship, which provides tuition-free college to recent high school graduates.
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham expanded tuition-free college to more New Mexicans with the Opportunity Scholarship, which was created as a budget item in 2020 and made the program permanent by law in 2022.
The Opportunity Scholarship led to the first enrollment increase in New Mexico in more than a decade, with statewide enrollment increasing by nearly ten percent. New Mexico ranked second for enrollment increases nationwide in Fall of 2022, countering a national trend of declining college enrollment.
Over 46,000 scholarships have been awarded in every region of the state to students pursuing career training certificates, two-year degrees and four-year degrees.
The Opportunity Scholarship is fully funded and ready to help tens of thousands of students pursue their college and career.
“For over a quarter of a century, New Mexico has been a national leader in providing free college to its residents. A fully funded Opportunity Scholarship opens the door for every New Mexican to reach higher, strengthening our economy, our families and our communities. Signing this legislation sends a clear message to New Mexicans that we believe in them and the contributions they will make for their families and the future of our great state.” – Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham
In the News
New Mexico Is the First State To Implement Free College Education
Source: BELatina In a country known for putting its students in debt before they can become professionally active, what the state of New Mexico is doing is unprecedented. The state government passed a law for its public university students to receive tuition-free...
New Mexico boosts its free college program, at least for now
Source: AP News SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Even after failing a test that set her back a semester, Maribel Rodriguez will be heading back to nursing school next spring with a generous new state scholarship that abandons eligibility criteria to help more working adults get...
3 Good Things: Sniff test, winds of change and free college
Source: Los Angeles Times Stop and smell the peaches It turns out that as much as history, culture and language may separate people around the world, we all have similar ideas about what smells good or bad. Whether researchers ask hunter-gatherers, fishers or farmers,...
New Mexico offers free tuition at public colleges and universities
Source: WBUR The Biden administration recently announced that federal student loan payments will be deferred again. But what if you didn't have to worry about the ballooning price of college tuition, and you never accumulated student debt in the first place? In New...
The US is facing an enrolment and student debt crisis. Is free tuition the answer?
Source: Study International The US might be one of the most popular study destinations in the world among international students, but it’s currently facing a crisis at home. US universities nationwide are seeing plummeting enrolment rates, causing acute troubles in a...
