SB 233 GRADUATE SCHOLARSHIP ELIGIBILITY

Sen Harold James Pope

Actions: [4] SCC/SEC/SFC-SCC

Scheduled: Not Scheduled

 Senate Bill 233 (SB 233) amends the Graduate Scholarship Act (GSA); changes eligibility; increases awards; and makes an appropriation. 

 Senate Bill 233 (SB 233) modifies definitions as follows:

•	“academic year” means the consecutive period of two semesters (rather than three quarters);
•	“award recipient” includes the requirement that the awardee must be a New Mexico resident;
•	“eligible institution” includes the requirement that the institution must be accredited by the Higher Learning Commission (rather than the North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools); and
•	“graduate” has the additional “and professional field” language removed, and other stylistic changes are made.

The conditions for first year eligibility are modified to specify that recipients should be New Mexico residents who have the greatest need and also be students from groups underrepresented in graduate education. The requirement to be a U.S. citizen is removed and replaced with the requirement to be “a New Mexico resident who has earned a bachelor’s degree and maintained a grade point average of 3.0 or higher, or a New Mexico resident who holds a paid position supporting faculty teaching or research activities.

The enrollment requirement is reduced from full-time to a minimum of six credit hours.

The overseeing entity is identified as the Higher Education Department, rather than the Higher Learning Commission.

Requirements that a recipient be in the second year of a master’s program or the third year of a doctoral program are removed. The requirement to serve in an unpaid internship or assistant position is removed.

A new specification is added that a graduate scholarship may be granted until the award recipient either receives a terminal degree or has qualified and received eight semesters of scholarship, whichever occurs first.

Section 21-21G-7 NMSA is amended, changing the annual scholarship of $7,200 to “one hundred percent of tuition and fees for the graduate program at the eligible institution for the academic year; provided that the department shall fund only one semester at a time and shall not fund the second semester of the academic year if the student does not enroll for that semester or does not maintain eligibility."

Section 21-21G-10 NMSA is revised to allow for termination of a scholarship due to withdrawal from the eligible institution or failure to re-enroll for consecutive academic years (or the second semester of an academic year). “Failure to be a full-time graduate student” is removed as grounds for termination. “Failure to maintain the required grade point average and other qualifications” is added as grounds for termination.

Five million dollars ($5,000,000) is appropriated from the General Fund to the Higher Education Department for expenditure in Fiscal Year 2025 to fund the Graduate Scholarship Act. Any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of fiscal year 2025 is to revert to the General Fund.
 

 If the bill does not pass, the modifications detailed regarding eligibility and awards will not be made, and the proposed appropriation will not be available.  

 Senate Bill 86 (SB 86) - Graduate Scholarship Act