Guaranteed Scholarships in New Mexico

scholarships guaranteed new mexico

New Mexico Legislative Scholarships

New Mexico’s legislative scholarships are a guaranteed set of programs designed to help and encourage students with college tuition. With the rise in the cost of tuition being incredibly common place in the US year to year and college becoming increasingly hard to afford, many states have beenscrambling to try and find ways to help some of their students be able to better afford tuition while hoping to keep them within their borders. Some states have gone as far as telling state colleges that they are not allowed to raise tuition in a given year, while others have attempted to raise funds through state programs to help provide financial aid to the students. It is not uncommon for these programs to be funded in part through the state lottery program, such as is the case in places like Michigan, Florida and New Mexico. Each state tends to have their own twists with regards to how their tuition assistance programs work, though all of them have had to make adjustments to them over the years due to rising costs.

In New Mexico, legislative scholarships are the primary programs through which students who have done well in high school may apply for some amount of financial aid when they start heading off to college. These programs are not all designed to fund the entirety of a student’s education but rather to help defray the overall cost. However, depending where a student ends up going to school, they may find that most of the legislative scholarships guarantee the entirety of their chosen school’s tuition.

Legislative scholarships kick into effect the second semester a student is at college in the State of New Mexico. It can only be used for tuition but can be renewed over a period of eight different semesters so long as student maintains a full time class schedule and strong academic marks. Students interested in the program will have to be residents of New Mexico, have a 2.5 grade point average and be a full time undergraduate student. All applicants will need to have graduated from a New Mexico high school or have their GED.

Another legislative scholarship from New Mexico is the New Mexico Scholars program which is slightly more generous than the first. This program covers not only tuition but also pays for fees and books. Students who get a New Mexico Scholars legislative scholarship will be able to renew it for up to four years. Those interested in this program will need to be a New Mexico resident, be in the top 5% of their graduating class or score a 25 on the ACT, enroll full time as an undergraduate and not have a family income greater than $30,000 a year.

The Legislative Endowment legislative scholarship is a decent program available to pretty much all students who graduate from high school in New Mexico. Students going to a four year institution will be able to get up to $2,500 a year. If a student is attending only a two year school they will be able to get access to up to $1,000 a year. All applicants will need to be residents of the state, be going to school in New Mexico, be enrolled part time as undergraduate and be able to show financial need.

The final New Mexico legislative scholarship is a program which will help cover some of the basic costs of attending college. Known as the New Mexico Competitive Scholarship, this program is available to non-residents. Students who are non-residents but have received $100 or more in scholarship funds each semester will be allowed to have their tuition costs reduced to in-state resident levels. Students will have to be non-residents, be attending a four year university in the state and be enrolled as full time undergraduates. Applicants will also need to have a high school grade point average of 3.5 and an ACT score of 20 or higher.Deadline for these programs are all set by individual institutions, and students will need to check with their school of choice before applying to them.

These New Mexico legislative scholarships are guaranteed scholarships in that students who meet the guidelines are assured access to the funds. It will be important for students to keep an eye on these legislative scholarships as they are in school – bad economic times or other financial problems in the state may result in changes to the law which may affect funding.