The stars have finally aligned in the most beautiful state of New Mexico! We have a brand-new, incredibly intelligent, passionate Dem governor that is Michelle Lujan Grisham - one who is committed to bringing us out of the 20th century that Susana Martinez kept us in. We have a majority Dem house; a majority Dem senate. We have all Dem US senators; all Dem US reps - one of whom is one of two of the first Native Americans to hold office in DC. And we have a billion dollar surplus. New laws on expungement, gun-control, environmental regulation and teacher salary raises have been flying out to all corners of this land of enchantment.
And although we won't know if this free-tuition plan will be passed until early 2020, it's still very good to, right now, in this day and age, be a New Mexican!
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People who paid their own tuition and their own student loans, and those of their children might not be too happy if they also have to pay the tuition of strangers via the government programs. I hope the state-sponsored students won't be getting high on state-sponsored marijuana while at school.
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@William
The billion dollar surplus from the oil and gas revenue is paying for it. Not the tax payers.
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Kudos to New Mexico and a great rally for President Trump
Once again, Bernie ahead of the curve. Sanders/Warren or Warren/Sanders 2020!
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Yes! My soulmate and hopefully millions of others’
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While we endeavor to improve public education, we must start with K-12.
Employer surveys indicate that they are getting actual College *Graduates now who test out at literacy and numeracy levels of about Sixth thru Eighth Grade proficiency.
I used to work for a Large (Blue) Hi Tech Company. We frequently hired based solely on the candidates who would require the *least amount of company "remedial education" before they could be utilized in the company structure, much less be allowed to interact with the public. K-12 in many places is *not doing their job, and colleges are *forced to "dumb down" their classes accordingly. "Free College" does not do a *thing to address failing foundational education, which is what is diminishing our College Degrees in "street value".
You can bet that colleges and tech schools in China are not doing that with *their students.
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In my view, this "free college" craze has yet to be carefully thought out. If all public schools are to become tuition free,
this places the burden of educating the children of the rich on the back of the common taxpayer. Poor Planning,
If all tuition is free for all students, it will lead to an inevitable "dumbing down" of ALL college cirricula, unless entrance requirements are *much more strictly *enforced than they are now.
Free everything will also remove much in the way of incentive for many students. Sadly, humans tend to "value" that which is costing them. Poor Planning.
This encourages an "everybody gets a participation trophy" educational criteria.
Like dealing with children of the wealthy who CHEAT their way into elite colleges today, the *overall effect is that teachers must
take time away from the *truly gifted students, while they give
"remedial education" to the students who did not *qualify to gain admission.
So. Maybe Free College for all who NEED it to be free, combined with testing for entry into Trade Schools. College is simply not *for everyone ! We also need electricians.
Maybe *extremely well-enforced criteria for entering AP Classes.
As we have been "dumbing down" U.S. Education since the first Reagan Administration, think about who ALSO knows that we are doing that ! Yes. Employers from ALL Nations.
Lets be careful about "trading away" the *quality of U.S. Higher Education for an increased *quantity of "graduates".
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The numbers don’t add up...$35 million for 55,000 students? $636 per year?
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@Kai
The article states that the money will come after the state and federal subsidies have been exhausted.
Better look out! Trump doesn't like education, especially FREE! Educated people tend to vote for Democrats. He may squash it if it catches his dimwitted attention. ssshhhhh....keep it quiet!
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"In a departure from the belt-tightening after the 2008 financial crisis, New Mexico also gave raises to public-school teachers and the faculty and staff of the University of New Mexico this year."
Bravo! Help the people and Trump will not carry New Maexico.
This is a continuation of John Dewey's helping America develop a public education for all Americans. This expansion of opportunity is credited with our economic growth throughout the 20th century. NM is showing all of us the way by furthering of education for all. Such a proud moment for New Mexico and all of us.
The most egregious part of this is the total ignoring of Faculty Governance!
This is awesome news, but as is noted in the attached dissertation, we have to support them once they arrive. If the money colleges save is diverted to effective student success programs this could be a win, win! Several colleges and universities in the state have already made improving graduation rates a priority.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1311&context=cehsedaddiss
Let's give it a try!
Given that these are State Universities and given that they are already partially subsidized with government funding, it's not that big a leap to make them tuition free. Certainly individuals with degrees will benefit, and ( assuming the majority of graduates stay in the State) so should the state economy.
1
I attended UNM in the late 1960's. In my first semester I got a draft lottery number of 8 (out of 366) meaning I'd get sent to war in Vietnam without a student or teacher deferment. I went to the library to use the Social Sciences periodicals index to decide about the war. To my surprise, a periodical I had actually heard of came up - National Geographic. The caption under the first photograph in the article told me all I needed to know to oppose that war and the U.S. role there. Meeting the cost of tuition and dormitory costs for me was facilitated by the federally supported work-study program and, ironically, by the "National Defense Student Loan Program." The Defense Department helped finance my escape from the Vietnam War!
When I graduated I became a teacher (because I couldn't make a living as an English major writing poetry) and since teaching also kept the draft away. That Defense loan program also deferred interest accrual and repayment requirements for teachers and 10% of the loan original loan balance was forgiven for each year of teaching.
If for any reason politicians don't want to see free tuition at the tertiary level, some ideas from the 1960s might be useful half-steps.
Borrowing from the 40-acres-and-a-mule obligation of our national history, Native Americans, African Americans and Mexican Americans from low income families should be paid to go to university and provided with free tutorial services as needed.
As a proud 1971 graduate of the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque and of its public schools, I am delighted to see this progressive and ground breaking plan. I attended from 1967-68--70-71 and graduated debt free. My education cost $250 a semester (tuition and books plus a 170 dollar stipend covering living expenses because my father was a disabled veteran of world war 2). I got an excellent education from both the public schools and the university and went on to become a college professor myself. The most important investment any country or state can make is to providing a good education for all.
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The idea of free education is a wonderful concept to buy future votes, but, who pays and why. I like the idea of forgiving the note and/or tuition for non profit or public service jobs that benefit the State or even the Federal government. In this manner, the youth of today understands the idea of giving back to society and gets something in return. The governor is planning on the Federal government to pay and then the taxpayers of the State to pick up the rest. It will not be sustainable and I for one, do not want my taxes increased to give freebies. PEOPLE DO NOT APPRECIATE SOMETHING THEY DO NOT PAY FOR THEMSELVES. THEY JUST WANT MORE FREE.
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I'm curious how do the liberal Democrats reconcile funding free education with fossil fuel revenue. We've been told by some very liberal and well known Democrats that fossil fuel use will be eliminated in 12 years.
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New Mexico is not merely very poor but an afterthought in the minds of most Americans. There is a reason one of the most popular bumperstickers in the state says, "not-New not-Mexico" and that a New Mexican was asked to show a passport in D.C. to get a license. How poor is it? So poor that, as the Martinez years demonstrated, it can't even afford competent corrupt officials to run things. (Hopefully, Albuquerque's new mayor, Tim Keller, and the state's new governor. Michelle Lujan Grisham, are cut of a different, competent and honest cloth. Time will tell.)
Free higher education is an excellent idea. However, it will take long-term perspective, thoughtful creativity, and the avoidance of political posturing to do this in a way that doesn't collapse along with oil and gas prices.
Sputnik was the last time our country got behind education, supported it financially, and showed respect for teachers and their profession. I had passionately hoped that before it collapsed, the Soviet Union would land someone on Mars, so that once again our country might respect and support teaching and learning.
Another thing our education system has lost: the sense that its purpose is not merely job training, but the broad enlightenment of individuals and the education of citizens, the latter absolutely necessary for the functioning of a republican democracy. Back then, "citizen" was not a politicized talking point but a concept with respected content involving both rights and responsibilities.
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this sounds fantastic. Other places manage. Eg university is free in Scotland to students from Scotland. I believe there is evidence that when you make a good or service free to everyone, even those who could pay, rich people are less likely to resent paying the taxes necessary to fund the program.
When I attended the University of California in the early 1970s there was no tuition - there was an administrative fee of $104.50 per academic quarter for in-state residents. Adjusting for inflation, the current cost is now more than 6 times what I paid.
If the program benefits about 55,000 students a year at an annual cost of $25 million to $35 million, that's between $455 and $636 per student per year.
However, a year of tuition at the state’s flagship campus costs $7,556 for state residents. While the state’s largest community college, has tuition costs that generally fall between $2,000 and $3,000 per year.
I don't see how this math works, perhaps something was left out of this article.
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Thank you Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham!
Finally a plan that focuses on helping move people forward & ahead rather than backwards or deeper into the ground.
I was taken aback by some of the criticisms voiced regarding the "Free College for State Residents" plan such as "scholarship money cannot be used on books, housing costs, child care or any of the other living expenses that can quickly pile up, and eventually cause many to drop out of school."
The scholarship I received way back in the day only covered my tuition as well. I applied & qualified for grants which covered my housing and books and a work study program where I worked on campus which helped pay for my food and other living expenses.
Even when my brother returned from Nam and applied for the G.I. Bill, that money only covered his tuition. He lived with our parents and found a job to help off set the various expenses that incurred in addition to the tuition.
My gosh, this generous program being instituted by the Governor is a wonderful opportunity. But at the same time, it's not an open ended lottery where everything will be covered and paid for by the state.
I applaud New Mexico for taking on this challenge by covering the tuition of all its residents, even those who can afford it.
The state is meeting this education challenge at a financial half way mark. They are doing more than most states when it comes to education.
While some may not think it's a perfect solution, what in life is?
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Let’s watch the experiment. Hope it is successful and sustainable after the oil revenues run out. Knowing that NM will have many hurdles to clear I’m doubtful this approach will be successful in the long run - but I do hope I’m wrong.
By the way we often overlook a major source of government subsidized higher education. It is called the GI Bill. And, in my opinion free government college tuition should require the recipient to either have already given public service or will in the future provide some public service for having been granted the privilege of this subsidy.
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Simply by avoiding one unnecessary war we can secure the several trillion dollars needed to forgive all student debt.
Avoiding a second unnecessary war we can pay for nationwide free college tuition.
The lesson: We can afford things that we really want.
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So what may be NM's tenure of residency requirement to qualify for this program? Should I move my family (including current high schoolers) there now?
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What a great idea - I applaud the New Mexico initiative! Education and Entrepreneurship are the keys to escaping poverty. Bravo!
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What a great idea! I hope a few people can get a few years of education before the Trump administration revokes New Mexico's right to educate its residents.
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College is the new high school.
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No, ain't nothin' free. Someone, somewhere has to foot the bill. This is nothing more than governmental slight of hand. Don't be fooled.
@Mike And how do we foot the bill for ill-conceived wars? The same way.
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I love that oasis of a blue island surrounded by a sea of red states!
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Bravo New Mexico! I hope this will encourage other states to follow suit.
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$35 million cost divided by 55,000 students is $636 per student
Great move, New Mexico. It will make New Mexico becomes the most educated state and the best state for professionals to retire in. I love the NM state universities.
And yet, this is unfair, because wealthy families won't have to pay, either. Wrong approach. Increasing grants based on income is the way to go.
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We have 10 years to move away from fossil fuels before catastrophic warming due to the climate crisis takes hold, and NM is basing their funding on oil revenue? I’m all for free education but let’s not plunder the earth to do so.
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New Mexico is not merely very poor but an afterthought in the minds of most Americans. There is a reason one of the most popular bumperstickers in the state says, "not-New not-Mexico" and that a New Mexican was asked to show a passport in D.C. to get a license. How poor is it? So poor that, as the Martinez years demonstrated, it can't even afford competent corrupt officials to run things. (Hopefully, Albuquerque's new mayor, Tim Keller, and the state's new governor. Michelle Lujan Grisham, are cut of a different, competent and honest cloth. Time will tell.)
Free higher education is an excellent idea. However, it will take long-term perspective, thoughtful creativity, and the avoidance of political posturing to do this in a way that doesn't collapse along with oil and gas prices.
Sputnik was the last time our country got behind education, supported it financially, and showed respect for teachers and their profession. I had passionately hoped that before it collapsed, the Soviet Union would land someone on Mars, so that once again our country might respect and support teaching and learning.
Another thing our education system has lost: the sense that its purpose is not merely job training, but the broad enlightenment of individuals and the education of citizens, the latter absolutely necessary for the functioning of a republican democracy. Back then, "citizen" was not a politicized talking point but a concept with respected content involving both rights and responsibilities.
2
This is an admirable but astonishingly naïve action by New Mexico. First, people do of course pay for fifth grade, in the form of school taxes. Second, this program is not "free." It merely shifts the cost from the students who will benefit from it to the taxpayers of New Mexico who will no doubt absorb it, because expecting oil revenues to defray the cost is foolish. Anyone genuinely concerned about the cost of higher education should be focused on two questions:
1) why do so many young people feel compelled to attend college and graduate with degrees that make them unemployable when many other opportunities exist in the trades? Speaking from experience, we have tremendous difficulty hiring properly trained machinists despite very attractive salaries.
2) Why does college tuition continue to increase at many times the rate of inflation?
So proud to see my home state making this bold move to expand access to higher education for all.
Not sustainable. Higher education used to be free in the UK. Now universities are charging up to 9000 pounds per year to stay afloat.
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We should be investing in K-12, not higher ed that is futilely attempting to remediate the terrible preparation of many kids being funded to pretend at college.
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NM rarely makes it to national news but when it does it's often not very flattering. As a recent transplant, I found it shocking that many schools here were held in mobile trailers. At first I thought they were put up temporarily until more permanent structures are built, but no, they're not meant to be taken down any time soon. Earlier this year voters overwhelmingly rejected a mill levy and that has put further stress on the school system that sorely needs additional funding. While it's always commendable to offer free or reduced tuition to college students, I just wish a scant more attention is paid to the K12 when over one-third received D and F grades last year. When your farm teams are not great, where are you going to get qualified players?
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It is about time to see investment in our nation's education and youths. Far too much is spent on corporate subsidies and military spending. Kudos to New Mexico for this brave policy initiative.
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Colleges or 'Big Education' is a multi-billion dollar business but who would actually be paying for the college costs that would normally be paid for with the tuition money from the students?
This program will provide further income boosts for already highly paid college Profs and Administrators - among the nations most privileged entitlements - at the expense of providing education where its truly needed - our impoverished cities. Underfunding public education in our lower income cities remains a national embarrassment. We ought use our scarce funds for where get the most likely lifelong results - educating our youngsters.
Those who argue college is the “new high school” need be reminded that most college grads secure skill sets with uncertain prospects in our ever more sophisticated job market. Many of our grads are having difficulty finding employment in their skills area yet have major college debts. How is removing college debt going to improve their career decisions ?
We also have a wealth of academic studies demonstrating that sharply increased Black college graduation achievement has not narrowed the wealth differentials between Black and White families. And a host of studies show Black college graduates choose not to prepare to enter the highly paid hi-tech skills areas.
Those who follow college enrollments in the successful developing and developed Asian nations observe the primary emphasis on securing strong quantitative and scientific educations. Rather than letting students study whatever they choose as is common in US college environments.
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@Peter I Berman
The average professor salary in the United States is about $70,000.
The average pHD salary in the Unites States is $97,000.
Paying professors too much is not a problem. They are already taking a huge pay cut to teach.
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@Peter I Berman - Are you aware the article concerns the state of New Mexico? Are you aware that the state of New Mexico has only three cities of any size? Are you aware that the demographics of New Mexico say the breakdown in the state is: White: 74.24%, Other race: 9.49%, Native American: 9.46%, Two or more races: 3.28%, Black or African American: 2.02%, Asian: 1.44%, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander: 0.07%? With 'White' not being broken down to Hispanic vs. Anglo?
Perhaps not.
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This is wonderful! When my son was a baby we lived in New Mexico because of his Native American heritage. One of the main reasons that I decided that I needed to move was that state's abysmal record with public education; especially in Elementary and High school. Even the busboys would work two jobs to afford private school education for their children. Has their record improved?
So many brilliant scientists (not just Walter White- LOL) between Los Alamos and Sandia Laboratories, Microsoft origins, they have a lot to be proud of.
This is a great sign
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But, but, but, THAT’S SOCIALISM!!!
We can’t give away free things to have a better future. Look how well our logic has worked so far!
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NM is at the bottom of the heap in terms of providing a good education to children and young adults. It is a poor state and has a high drop out rate. This is why businesses looking for an educated work force avoid NM as do professionals with families after they look at the lousy education system. Gov. Lujan Grisham is dedicated to improving education in NM from pre-K to college. This is another step towards that goal.
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@NBN Smith In fact, hundreds of STEM professionals who graduated from NM colleges and went elsewhere for advanced degrees or post docs do want to come back. It is a beautiful place and gives us the space to think. Https://www.stemboomerang.org gives you an idea of our trajectory. NM has a strong innovative economy - but we can always use more!
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@NBN Smith
Actually, the "bottom of the heap" for U.S. Education has fluctuated between Alabama and Mississippi for *many decades now. Even then, while Alabama "wins" from time to time, MS is the prevailing "champ" MOST of the time.
As deficient as NM Education admittedly *IS, the scary thing is that it really is NOT "the bottom of the heap" !
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The US is paying the price of neglecting education, especially for young people with inadequate funding. No one thing could do more for the health, well-being and prosperity of New Mexicans than this proposal. Education is the foundation of good lives and strong communities. Thank you Michelle Lujan Grisham for a bold program for New Mexicans.
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Most of Continental Europe’s universities are free. Gottingen, Heidelberg, ETH, École Normale Supérieure, Universities of Vienna, Copenhagen and Prague have produced people who gave us Quantum Mechanics, Theory of Relativity and countless beautiful mathematical proof what were worthy of the Fields Medal.
If they can afford it, we can too. We are the richest nation on earth. Instead of wasting our funds to fight idiotic wars which are impossible to win in Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq, for example, we can educate people for free and provide them with universal healthcare. Trillions are wasted with no beneficiaries other than the 0.01 percent.
Kudos to New Mexico. The naysaying commentées talking about unaffordability should look themselves in the mirror more often. And not to prettify their faces!
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It's a shame they plan to fund it from oil revenue. What's the point of educating the next generation and then handing them an unlivable planet?
A lot of people will start to consider moving there then - how's the employment situation in NM??
No income ceiling is stupid. The plan would go so much farther excluding people who can afford it.
2
Part of the goal, obviously, is to keep (upwardly) mobile students in the state, which seems strategically sound.
Just tax progressively and that takes care of that.
On one hand I applaud the sentiment of the Governor of NM but on the other I decry the emphasis, over emphasis on a college education. Lets be frank, we are NOT talking about education but a credential - in this case a college diploma. We need to edcuate our kids from K-12 so that they can do math needed for most jobs other than a rocket scientist, so they can read a book or article to be informed citizens. We have so devalued "university education" that we allow diploma mills to proliferate. We let folks into university who cannot read, write, spell or even speak claiming we are providing opportunity. Then they show up at our workplaces and still have that same set of deficiencies. We are not providing opportunity, we are rewarding failure. It should be damn hard to get into university and be free if you maintain say a B-minus GPA. Below that you have to pay, all students, athletes, part timers, etc. all alike. We need to restablish excellence in our HS not AP classes but tough classes for all kids and not let kids skate through. Europe has a pretty tough bar - the BAC before one gets to go to university and only about 25% do. Would it be asking our kids to much to do the same as long as we really did provide excellance in every single school system in the country.? Take the dollars for free collge and put it back into education where it belongs in K-12 , please for all of us.
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The New Mexico Opportunity Scholarship brings the United States closer to all other industrialized countries where tax policies result in low-fee/ free universities for citizens & residents. I only have a tenuous tie to New Mexico (my sons lived 2 years there & I have one friend teaching at the University of New Mexico), but I’m reacting emotionally to this first step toward our country joining the civilized world in terms of making meaningful investments in the public good for all. This is also personal because our family has had to pay obscene amounts of money on our children’s education in the US, a country with no meaningful social or economic safety net. Thank you to everyone in New Mexico responsible for this step towards development, including Governor Grisham. If New Mexico and other states transition from free tuition to completely free public universities, the benefits will be even greater than what the US experienced with the flawed post-World War II GI Bill by, among many things, forcing private universities to compete for students by drastically lowering their own fees.
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Like health care and women's reproductive rights, getting a college degree is also a right, rather than a privilege. It's only common sense that a well-educated populace will produce more well-being, socially and productively, and would allow each student to express his or her talents after graduation.
2
I recently read a USDA publication on managing timberland from the 1950s. It must have been directed at high school graduates because the vast majority of timber was (and still is) held in small private woodlots and because college graduates were so rare at the time. Yet the publication assumed easy familiarity with calculus, natural logarithms, net present value, and opportunity cost, and employed sophisticated diction. Even more importantly, it assumed maturity, independence, and an ability to attend to one's own affairs. The problem is the dumbing-down of the education system and the substitution of diplomas for knowledge as the objective. Free remedial "college" won't fix it.
While I think anything that promotes education is generally a positive, I think any oil and gas windfall (blech, but gift horse I guess) would be better spent on early education, like Head Start programs, which have proven to offer long term benefits. Most importantly, the benefit could be offered to every child in the state, a much better way to even the playing field. Not everyone wants to or can go to college, but everyone is a pre-schooler! Interesting I'm reading this in the NYT before seeing anything in the local paper. I'm glad this needs to approved by state government, perhaps there is a chance to better evaluate where the best investment in education can be made.
"... students must maintain a 2.5 grade point average."
And what will C+ work start to look like, when this program is implemented?
Free college tuition should be provided to those who show excellence at the high school level already, like in the old days of CCNY.
If it's all free, how many empty seats will there be at the end of the term? People value what they pay for.
1
Part of one sentence says New Mexico can do this because of oil revenues. Electing a Dem President and implementing their green agenda and this program goes away. NM just turned red.
Is it ironic that a progressive goal is done at the expense of climate change?
1
Good for New Mexico for investing in education and their youth.
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Drill baby drill! It puts kids in college without having to pay tuition. Awesome.
This would have been a life changer for me. Instead I’m left to climb out of my student debt, month by month. I’ll get there eventually, but it shouldn’t even be an issue. An educated population benefits the entire nation.
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A recent article from Forbes is available online. It provides details of colleges and universities that charge little or no tuition. Several also include free room and board. Many have been doing this for years. Maybe your research before attending a college or university failed to reveal these education gems.
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@Reader
"An educated population benefits the entire nation."
Something that the Conservatives, Republicans, and even some Democrats running for president seem to be unable to comprehend!
An educated population benefits the entire nation, the same way a good transportation infrastructure benefits the entire nation, all businesses.
Business benefits from an educated population, the same way as it benefits from a sound system of transportation for its goods and services
Consider Amazon and its subsidiary, Amazon Web Services. AWS helped spawn a multitude of businesses, enriching those individual businesses, enriching Amazon, and enriching the nation as a whole.
A healthy population benefits the entire nation, in reducing the overall health costs (for the entire nation, not just for individual families). Canadian businesses don’t have to contend with all the problems of healthcare for their employees; the US businesses do, with all the built-in inefficiencies.
Instead the uninformed majority seems to prefer wasteful expenditures, be it in education, infrastructure, health care, ...Penny wise, and pound foolish!
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@Reader_Student debt is a choice. I went to county college in NJ and then to public university (NJIT). No debt, a Professional Engineering License, and no problem making a good living. There are choices other than student debt.
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I remember attending ccny in nyc when it was free. I am 78 now. appreciated the opportunity,tho I had to work full time to help my family financially.
My wife and I went to CCNY tuition-free. We more than made up for it in taxes we pay to NY. Investing in your own people, making the government work for the governed, is what governments should do.
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For those who do not think making college tuition-free is a good expenditures of precious tax resources, let me this question: When Congress under President Trump passed a huge tax cut which mainly benefited our wealthiest citizens, what did they do with their wind fall money? Did they invest in higher education programs, fund education foundations, provide scholarships? Largely no, but some corporations did provide tuition costs for their employees to get higher degrees. They were wise enough to see that such an employee benefit would pay back the corporations with a better educated workforce which sadly in the USA has been diminished in the last 50 years. Where can America benefit the most in investment? Education, health care, technology!! The worst investment we could make has been making the mega rich richer or spending hundreds of billions on war machines.
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@Vicki Farrar Or, building that worthless wall with all of its attendant costs. If that money went into state education systems. . . . .
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Unfortunately, this is really a sham. Most of the costs that students pay to universities are in the form of fees and, for younger students, typically residential and meal costs. Fees typically run as much as tuition. And often, when tuition decreases or is held steady, universities still make out by raising existing fees or inventing new ones.
Good idea. Free college for our state may have a similar effect as California's system decades ago--innovation and industry. Ditch the lottery scholarship as it is a "tax" on the poor with terrible odds.
2
Que viva! As Nuevo Mexico knows, this is exactly how California stoked its economy, starting in the 1950s. An educated population, and the opportunity for education brings business investment, dramatically increases economic investment and statewide prosperity. Well done, mijos! (I may have to go home after all....)
3
I was recently perusing the job ads for New Mexico, and found the one for a library aide at Highlands University, which is part of the Univ of New Mexico network. The job advertised an absurd number of hours and it was paying $7.50/hr.
I wrote both the university as well as to the Santa Fe New Mexican and the Albuquerque Journal asking: do you sense anything wrong with this picture? A state university, funded primarily by the taxpayer, that is paying the New Mexico minimum wage, which at $7.50/hr is absurdly low for 2019. New Mexico students might as well opt in their spare time for sharecropping or working in the Ludlow mines. I was not surprised I got no response; I imagine they simply chalked it up to another crazy (socialist) from NYC.
Given the salaries of administrators at the various state branches -- generous indeed -- I marvel at what New Mexico residents tolerate for their children. Free in-state tuition is certainly a step in the right direction. At least then the salary of the library aide at Highlands will buy dinner, maybe even for two.
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@gking01 -- The NM minimum wage is already approved to increase to $9.00 on January 1, 2020, then $10.50 in 2021, then $11.50 in 2022. It's a start.
6
How are private colleges and universities -- nonprofits that charge tuition -- supposed to compete with this? Sounds to me as if they are doomed.
I recently toured UNM with my high school junior. What a lovely campus. Unfortunately, we don't live in state.
Congratulations New Mexico for leading the way. I am dead set against any relief for student loans used to go to private colleges. Students should be limited to going where they can afford to go unless on scholarship.
8
Well done, New Mexico, assuming this passes into law. You will be setting an example of how to govern for the long run. I visited Alberquerque for the first time in 30 years last April and was impressed by the city and especially the UNM campus. If I weren't already well into my 70's and retired, I would think seriously of moving to NM.
1
You live in California and are retired IS a reason to move to New Mexico. You will have a
“Bigger bang for your buck”. Natural disasters are very rare, sunshine is rampant, climate is 4 season (although Climate change is real and warming). Take a leisurely trip to discover for yourself. Fall is outstanding.
Use the income from the oil extraction. NM might as well benefit from the fracking contaminating our water supply.
I cannot think of a better use for money that will come from fossil fuel generation. It is truly forward looking in so many ways.
1
What about the students who paid for their own tuition at UNM or are paying for higher education themselves? Do we get a reimbursement or rebate? This is a bit unfair to the students who paid or are currently in debt because of the massive interest rate scams student loan companies dish out to borrowers. Please explain how we will be compensated. Thanks!
It's not "free college," but "taxpayer funded" college. All pay their taxes on a daily basis for this offering. Reality works, and it works best if you think you are educating others.
How wonderful -- I hope that university students in New Mexico will fully appreciate and utilize this opportunity.
I was lucky enough to grow up in California when the UCs were still affordable for the middle class -- graduating without debt enabled me to take many risks that I otherwise couldn't have managed (e.g. graduate school).
Congratulations to all young New Mexicans, but appreciate what you are given and don't take it for granted -- please help to push other states to do the same.
1
I lived in New Mexico for many years and, like other commenters, was surprised that the lottery scholarships were not mentioned. Some of the drawbacks of the lottery scholarships are the requirement that students have no gaps between high school and college and that the scholarships are only available to seniors in high school (or homeschoolers who have completed their programs). Those restrictions affect groups with challenges such as low income, single parenthood, or caring for family members the most. The proposed free tuition plan seems to address those issues. Good for New Mexico! I'm happy they are actively working on a solution to a serious problem.
2
I live in New Mexico and applaud this move by Governor Lujan Grisham, with one exception: I hope this doesn't keep us tied to oil and gas in for the long run. We are in a climate crisis, we need to see NM transition away from relying on oil and gas for so much of the state budget. She's passed a bill to go to zero emissions by 2040 (yes!) but it doesn't cover oil and gas produced here and used elsewhere.
4
This is an important development. Let's hope this catches fire and spreads to every state in the union.
2
Santa Fe Community College has been free or close to it for a while. The college offers great tech programs, not only in STEM, but in solar and other clean energy technologies, and has had proven success placing students in internships leading to full-time jobs. Also, at 7000 feet, Santa Fe still feels like a clean place. Come to Santa Fe!
2
There is a truism that anything "free" is not fully appreciated. Since NM already has the Lottery Scholarship program and relatively low tuition, why shouldn't students be expected to make an investment in their own future? The state would make low or no interest loans to cover any debt following graduation. There could also be some kind of "public service write-off" for even that debt. This just seems like another example of throwing money at an obvious problem hoping some good will come of it.
1
On the one hand, I am incredibly proud of New Mexico, where I once lived, for stepping up like this. Can't wait to see them pull it off.
But currently the cost of higher education is born by adjuncts (+/- half of all faculty nationwide). This means about 3K a course, usually no benefits. A normal courseload is 2-3 a semester, most adjuncts have to work overtime at multiple schools just to barely scrape by. It is criminal. It is why I left teaching, and gladly.
Providing accessible education for all is great. But education should not be a cost borne by those who love it the most, and go on to teach.
3
New Mexico is one of the poorest states in the country, among the highest in illiteracy and high school drop-outs and the lowest in academic attainment, college expenditures per pupil, college enrollment per capita, pre-k enrollment, and standardized testing scores.
Yet the state just spent $60 million to renovate UNM's basketball arena, making it a more expensive facility than those of NCAA powerhouses like Michigan and Duke.
I am glad that they are spending the money to help plug the hole from the lottery fund, but until they address the elephant in the room of where education dollars are going, this is a half-measure at best.
5
@JSD
I'm with you on this. Intercollegiate sports in the US is, at the Division I and probably Division II levels, a sinkhole for money and at times a cesspool of corruption. Big time sports have made a grotesque joke and and an insult to those who value higher education. So too are declining numbers of full-time professor lines and the substitution of poorly paid adjuncts for those professors. Add to that administrative bloat and the problems seem almost insurmountable. They are not, of course, if Boards of Trustees and Presidents, with the support of faculty, have the will and courage to tackle the problem.
1
This is a great idea and one that will pay off. However, the next step is to help with the living expenses by offering housing and board. Perhaps arranged jobs to work into their schedules, low, low interest loans, promises to serve after graduation, private companies helping promising future employees etc.
Promoting these students will pay off financially and should be seen as an investment not welfare.
This is nothing new. We had free college education in California until the 1980s. I'm pretty sure it led to the blossoming of the tech industry in the following decades. I was a beneficiary of this free education, something I could not have afforded on my own in those days. It is one of the unremarked tragedies of our time that higher education has become so expensive.
16
Let's emphasize that New Mexico is using oil and gas revenue to fund this program. This is something that could easily be done in other blue states with large hydrocarbon reserves such as New York, Colorado, and California if they simply stopped being so unreasonably hostile toward exploration and production companies. With oil and gas production comes thousands of high paying jobs, millions (or even billions) in tax revenue, and now, free college tuition for all. When will coastal folks realize that the oil and gas industry is simply here to provide a product that truly EVERYONE demands at the lowest cost possible? We are more than willing to be taxed to fund programs such as these.
A major point about "universal" aid, a point that many people miss, is that it tends to unite us. After all, we are a nation of people, with bonds that need to be nurtured. Splitting us up into rich/poor or deserving/not deserving just divides us.
Think of the perfectly reasonable resentment of all those families who would miss the cut-off by just few hundred or thousand dollars of income. Or of the upper income families who's taxes always seem to go to others.
Far better to freely offer the benefit to everyone and allow the program to become broadly popular with the voters.
12
Having not thrived in my athletics-assisted undergraduate program at a fancy university, I was lost after graduating. Then a chance encounter with a college councilor informed me that I could start a masters program at one of California’s State Universities using just the cash in my minimum wage pocket. I was then able to obtain a masters AND a doctorate in a different field surviving on just teaching and research assistant jobs alone.
I was lucky to be still in the shadow of sputnik.
California needs to return to its education roots - right after it requires high-density housing at all transportation hubs. People have to at least have a pitiful studio apartment within biking distance to live as a student.
4
funded by oil? funded by a fossil fuel? i don't know if i would even accept that money source, hard though it would be to turn it down. lots of thought provocation on this one.
1
@buskat-So do you propose we just don't use the revenues generated off of oil and gas for anything? The reality of it is, they are drilling. Though you and I may not like it, we should at least utilize the money generated from our public lands by private corporations for something.
2
I’m always struck by the pride evident in the obituary of my great grandmother in Minnesota at the turn of the 20th century, where it noted that my grandfather, the oldest of her children was a recent high school graduate. I believe it was also noted there (I haven’t accessed the obit for this comment) that he had studied Latin, a tradition carried on by me and my siblings.
The wonderful life my grandparents shared in Wisconsin, raising four children - all of whom would be college graduates and who themselves produced three PhDs among their children - can be traced back to that ticket to the middle class.
The foresight of the previous generation, to expend limited resources on public education through high school needs to be replicated now - for the current ticket to the middle class - a college education.
1
New Mexico - you truly are the “Land of Enchantment”.
Yes, help your people, rise above other states. Give students a chance to better their lives. It’s enchanting.
90
@MIMA why college education? The vast majority of these people will go on to have higher incomes than most Americans. Why not invest in trades and skills? Why not just pay for real certificates in programming, database admin, server admin that don't require all the other course work?
Is it to appeal to our millennial base who are feeling the pinch of the loans they have to pay for degrees that have little value?
Why not help the homeless?
Why not invest more in public schools to make sure kids have a real opportunity in life?
Why not expand access to health care?
Why not invest in community parks, infrastructure, etc?
There are so many other things that can really improve the lives of the poor rather than just giving away money to a group of people who will end up doing very well in life!
1
Look what happens when oil money comes to a state where indigenous and Hispanic people have some political power!
Like Alaska
@Andy-May I remind you that our last Governor was a Republican and advocated terrible policies for our educational system, her name was Susana Martinez. Last Monday, I attended the Trump rally in Rio Rancho to simply observe the phenomenon; to clarify, I think Trump is despicable. The majority of the crowd was Hispanic, with significant numbers of indigenous people, all who were cheering on Trump. Being Native American or Hispanic does not preclude you from advocating terrible policies. Native Americans and Hispanics are people, just like you and me, and stereotypes (whether negative or positive) are counter productive.
1
Good news!
Doesn't sound like New Mexico is turning red anytime soon.
4
Calling this ' free' is deceptive and misleading. New Mexico taxpayers will pay for these college educations whether or not they or their family members benefit.
3
@Blackmamba Being funded entirely by oil and gas revenue. This is what happens when those in power on the left are willing to work with us to benefit their communities rather than attract sound-bites attacking the industry.
2
@Blackmamba Being funded entirely by oil and gas revenue. This is what happens when those in power on the left are willing to work with us to benefit their communities rather than attract sound-bites attacking the industry.
1
Obviously, it’s a benefit to the state, as they’ll have an educated populace who’s better able to provide for themselves. Taxpayers only “pay” for services insofar as the politicians they elect. Conservatives obsession with the individual over the collective good is trite, tiresome and banal.
2
What no debt? How un-American.
1
Oh, no. Sounds like socialism to me. Or something like "single payer" university education. Or, something "European." What's happening to us? [Any doubts, this is extremely tongue in cheek.]
6
I’m a faculty member at the University of New Mexico and I hadn’t heard ANYTHING about this! You’d think they’d consult us or inform us before they announce plans! ALL that we hear is budget shortages, classes not making, inability to support travel and research! Where are they getting the money, when daily they tell us there isn’t enough to pay us or hire new faculty or renovate aging bathrooms??? This has got to be totally absurd!
50
@Imohf Oil and gas revenues from the Permian Basin. And with more students there will be more faculty hires.
4
@Imohf It's not complicated professor: the administrators, all of whom make more than you do, and the state legislators are reading the handwriting on the wall: The synergistic effect of (1) astonishing levels of student debt married to (2) the absurd levels of income inequality in America, which translates into inequality of opportunity, is keeping those admins and legislators awake at night. Cornell Medical School
(https://www.cbsnews.com/news/free-tuition-cornell-medical-school-debuts-free-admission-for-students-who-qualify-for-financial-aid/)
among others, has beat them to the punch with this fiscal gesture. There will be more of this.
Time to do something *big*, their dreams told them. It is a wise political decision in a poor state like New Mexico. They'll worry about where the money will come from somewhere down the road. There might well be fewer tenured professors, but you can be sure the jobs of administrators are not on the line. They'll still pay the absolute minimum ($7.50/hr) for most student-aid jobs, but now the students have the consolation of no tuition. Not a moment too soon.
4
@Imohf, it is a great idea during election period.
2
Hmmmm oil revenue to pay for free education. My guess is NM residents will choose free education over climate change once again proving that no one really believes the world is ending from green house gasses
2
@Dady-Countries such as Norway actually generate a huge amount of money from fossil fuels, yet also lead the way in combating climate change. Seems contradictory doesn't it? Not really. Sin taxes can be effectively utilized to counter agendas (e.g. taxes on cigarettes). In this case, free education is proving a public good which in a back handed way educates individuals to understand climate change. As a side note, the fees generated from fossil fuels is due to the oil companies drilling on NM state land and selling oil owned by NM state residents. The least we can do with this money is to fund our educations.
3
@Dady yep, NM is quite liberal, but these same liberals look the other way when it comes to nuclear (Labs) and oil/gas. Not so big on the green revolution when it comes down to it.
What a wonderful and wise investment in the community! Bravo!
30
I remember when Venezuela tried this. Didn't work out very well...
@Matthew Were you there to actually compare Venezuela to New Mexico? Perhaps you should say you remember when California tried this; that is much closer to reality. Don't let your ideology overwhelm common sense.
1
@Matthew-I remember when Denmark, Norway, Germany, the UK, Canada, Singapore, Japan, New Zealand, Switzerland, France, Australia, Sweden, the Netherlands, Belgium, Ireland, Finland, and all those other first world countries tried free public education as well. What happened to them?
1
@JWinder I am comparing them to Venezuela because they are tying the funds to a specific industry. The oil and gas industry. Which is volatile and not a great industry to base the program on. Prices could drastically decrease and production can cease as it has in the past. And then you have a great program without any funds.
This should be national policy
State University systems were created by the federal government. There should be a shared commitment with states to make sure everyone with talent and ambition has the opportunity to become the best that they can be.
It benefits me when they succeed by virtue of living in a better, more advanced, wealthier, more civilized nation. It benefits everyone when the next generation succeeds. It is our responsibility to make sure they have the means to do so.
5
I applaud this idea both for students and the state. Their long timeline view of the benefits to their state of this move is so smart.
I have to disagree with the professor who said “As a bigger and more diverse group of undergraduates entered college in recent decades, costs rose, and policymakers began to promote the idea of a degree as less of a public benefit than a private asset akin to a mortgage.” At least for 4-year colleges, it wasn’t so much increased costs from a larger cohort, as colleges regulate the number of students they admit.
The cause was and is the Reagan-era GOP tax policies, which have only gotten more extreme over time - lower taxes for the wealthy to keep more money in their pockets and cut public services like public education to pay for it. Win-win for those who fund the GOP. What you can’t cut you privatize so at least the rich can make money off it - mercenary military organizations (is., Blackwater, now Academi), charter schools, VA, pork inspections, you name it, it’s hard to keep up. This remains the GOP/Koch/Prince/DeVos/Mercer/Walton/pick your billionaire funded philosophy.
3
This is a very interesting story, and one I believe dying rural communities all over the country should be following closely. Free college for all public universities in a state would do more to lift dying communities up then any other single solution. States need to invest heavily in education from birth through college. The effects would be transformative in the span of a generation.
5
In Germany and most of Europe, university is free; We will fall behind if we don’t provide quality education for our next generation! The costs are way too high and the debt load kids carry is outrageous. Our government used to fund higher education, but phased it out in favor of backing student loans and transferring all the costs to students. This is a step to preparing our country for the future. Travel to Europe and Asia and it’s all to clear how we are already behind. Our infrastructure, manufacturing and city scapes are all old and use old inefficient technologies, made only worse by Trump rolling back any efficiency standards. You can’t move forward without a quality education.
16
@Candace C In Europe only the best and brightest make it to university. It is highly selective.
Does this program also include trade schools and programs? College is not the way for everyone. Plumbers, electricians, welders, mechanics...these all have. Valuable role to play in society.
5
@Dan Nukala - Yes. Albuquerque Vo-Tech is a state funded school, and most other trades and vocational training is handled through the community colleges. What isn't clear is whether there will be any funding for the trades apprenticeship programs, but we'll see. New Mexico doesn't have a great many state colleges or universities, but they do have a very full component of 2-year schools.
1
New Mexico is not merely very poor but an afterthought in the minds of most Americans. There is a reason one of the most popular bumperstckers in the state says, "not-New not-Mexico." How poor is it? So poor that, as the Martinez years demonstrated, it can't even afford competent corrupt officials to run things. It gets the leftovers of rip-offs, who can't get a job in any other state. (Hopefully, Albuquerque's new mayor, Tim Keller, and the state's new governor. Michelle Lujan Grisham, are cut of a different, competent and honest cloth. Time will tell.)
Free higher education is an excellent idea. However, it will take long-term perspective, thoughtful creativity, and the avoidance of political posturing to do this in a way that doesn't collapse along with oil and gas prices.
Sputnik was the last time our country got behind education, supported it financially, and showed respect for teachers and their profession. I had passionately hoped that before it collapsed, the Soviet Union would land someone on Mars, so that once again our country might respect and support teaching and learning.
One other thing our education system has lost: the sense that its purpose is not merely job training, but the broad enlightenment of individuals, and the education of citizens, the latter absolutely necessary for the functioning of a republican democracy. Back then, "citizen" was not a politicized talking point but a concept with respected content involving both rights and responsibilities.
3
@Steve Fankuchen-The vast majority of tuition expenses for Undergraduates who have a >2.5 gpa is funded by lottery proceeds, that dates back to 1996. This funding will just make up the difference. As an aside, I totally agree on your other points.
2
@Alex
Alex, thanks for engaging. My concern with lottery financing of education is not only that it tends toward functionally being a regressive "tax", but that legislators, instead of adding lottery profits to the usual appropriated money for education simply substituted that and used the difference for other purposes. In California that had a lot to do with the decimation of the educational system. Hopefully New Mexico is less susceptible to simplistic sloganeering as a modus operandi for making policy than is California. (Wouldn't take much!)
1
Yay! NM has such potential in areas such as renewable energy and this is a giant step forward into the future! Kudos to our Democratic governor.
4
New Mexico is not merely very poor but an afterthought in the minds of most Americans. There is a reason one of the most popular bumperstckers in the state says, "not-New not-Mexico." How poor is it? So poor that, as the Martinez years demonstrated, it can't even afford competent corrupt officials to run things. It gets the leftovers of corrupt people who can't get a job in any other state. (Hopefully, Albuquerque's new mayor, Tim Keller, and the state's new governor. Michelle Lujan Grisham, are cut of a different cloth. Time will tell.)
Free higher education is a much-needed, excellent idea. However, it will take long-term perspective, thoughtful creativity, and the avoidance of political posturing to do this in a way that doesn't collapse along with oil and gas prices.
Sputnik was the last time our country got behind education, supported it financially, and showed respect for teachers and their profession. I had passionately hoped that before it collapsed, the Soviet Union would land someone on Mars, so that once again our country might respect and support teaching and learning.
One other thing our education system has lost: the sense that its purpose is not merely job training, but the broad enlightenment of individuals, and the education of citizens, the latter absolutely necessary for the functioning of a republican democracy. Back then, "citizen" was not a politicized talking point but a concept with respected content involving both rights and responsibilities.
2
A beautiful and highly underrated tourist state but a poor one which relies on military and oil money. Nm has a brain drain problem.
There is a reason its nickname is 'The Land of Entrapment.'
It seems hard to leave due to low paying jobs, low ranked schools and lack of mobility. I applaud NM for trying to do something about it, but there isn't much of a reason to stay there once you get your degree.
1
@ Scott. Hey Scotty. Glad you stay in Scottsdale. We who stay in NM do so not for the reasons you mention but for the enchanting beauty of NM, for the multicultural beauty of NM. Have a great day.
Good for New Mexico....it seems that they are looking toward the future where more of the residents have a good education, bring in more diverse companies who can and will hire and pay better. We cannot continue to create a permanent under-class..it is the death knell for any country. Our underclass was created and is maintained by those who see poor people in a negative way rather than see a huge untapped resource...we need to educate our kids. It is the only way for America to prosper.
5
This is a bad idea. Many people don't have the intelligence and motivation to study at the college level, and students are more likely to take their education seriously when they are paying for part of it.
1
@Beliavsky
Actually, this new program builds on a very successful program that has existed for decades -- the New Mexico Lottery Scholarship.
The Lottery Scholarship covers tuition for New Mexico high school grads who attend an in-state university full-time and maintain a 2.5 GPA.
Currently, the scholarship pays for about 60% of tuition, so this now program must be a supplement for the rest.
4
Some 60 idd years ago when I entered Columbia as freshman my bother still had a year to go at Cornell. My parents were NYC school teachers but managed the costs without taking out a mortgage or a loan. Present tuition rates are more than their salary would be now.
May I suggest that his is ridiculous.
4
Article 12, Sections 2 and 7 of the New Mexico State Constitution mandates free public education for New Mexicans, to be paid for by the state’s Permanent School Fund.
Article 12 was required by Congress as a condition of statehood granted in 1912.
Today, New Mexico’s Permanent School Fund is valued at more than $17 billion, one of the largest educational endowments in the USA.
4
@John Adams Ingram - No wonder President Taft admitted you guys first. We were too busy trying to get judges elected to include education when we went for statehood.
1
As a graduate of Santa Fe's exorbitant "study liberal arts and have no career contacts afterwards" St. John's College and looking for a BFA in film at UNM to take advantage of the state's growing film scene, this is music to my ears :)
4
Nice idea. Note that El Nuevo, with maybe 2 million residents, has 29 institutions of higher education.
2
UNM grad here, my husband also did his undergrad and graduate program at UNM. When we attended, we were non-traditional student's, married young and didn't start at UNM right after high school. Therefore, lottery scholarship was not available to us. We had the GI bill and I can say with 100% certainty we would have never been able to make it through undergrad, much less both go on to receive Master's degrees without that assistance. While I consider us exceptionally lucky to have had those funds available to us, kids should not have to fight wars to earn an education. This bill also includes funds for older people returning to school, which is critical.
Others have pointed out that the lottery currently covers about 2/3 of the cost of tuition. That's true. It's also true that the additional 1/3 is a cost too high for most New Mexico families. Remember, MOST of our kids in this state are on free lunch and getting food assistance through SNAP. Our families can't afford food. $2,500 a year is an unimaginable amount of money to scrape together before considering books, etc.
I work at one of our Nat. Labs. Want to guess what percent of employees attended at New Mexico college? You'd be hard pressed to find a number, they don't want people to know that the number is very, very low. Sure, they'll hire locals to clean the floors and answer the phones (there are exceptions of course). The real tickets out of poverty in this state are out of reach for most of the population.
5
Great news and much needed in a poor state such as New Mexico, which historically has been last or near last on the list of states to provide a solid education for its students. Now if only the more conservative members of the legislature follow through on this initiative when it next comes into session in January.
8
Making it possible for all students to attend college is only a good thing. Our nation changed after the 1960s when students with Pell Grants were able to attend and choose the fields of study necessary to build quality and financially secure lives. Individuals from all walks of life, all races and income groups were sitting in academic lecture halls. The national conversations ever since have only broadened with an educated populace.
8
This may be "one of the boldest state-led efforts to expand access to higher education," but it is certainly NOT a place where no state has ever gone before. In the 1950s and 1960s free college tuition was available to New York City residents (e.g., CCNY), and to California residents (e.g., UC Berkeley). Another example of how government spending for the benefit of the public has sadly declined in recent decades.
10
On a national level, I simply cannot understand proposing "free college" without first confronting head on the frivolous spending by these universities & the tremendous cost of living associated with often required college housing & meal plans. I'm almost inclined to think that it's not the education that is truly expensive; but the resort style housing, on campus lazy rivers, multi-million dollar gym facilities & sports programs which has driven the cost of college so high over the last 30 years.
1
At public colleges? I think you need to visit a few state schools
3
I'm confused here, maybe it's changed in the last decade but I went to college in New Mexico for free on the Lottery Scholarship. At that time the only requirements were that I graduated from a New Mexico high school with a 2.5 GPA and that I maintained something like a 3 GPA while in school. It covered 4 years, or 8 consecutive semesters.
It seems the only difference here is that it's now open to all state residents instead of recent high school graduates. This is obviously a good expansion, but I'm not clear on how this change is as big as it's being made out to be.
Now if the schools would actually spend some of the money on academics and teacher pay instead of high coaching salaries or new fields for sports, that would be revolutionary.
5
@Dylan,
The Lottery no longer covers all of the tuition. I would hope this plan is in conjunction to the lottery, so if we have an oil bust, the whole thing won’t go down the drain. I would also like to see it cover those who take a gap year, which the current system does not. And you lose your coverage if you take a semester off, even for medical reasons. Lastly, I would like to see the bar raised to a 3.0 GPA for University as many who start on the lottery with lower do not graduate. Let’s put that money into trade schools and other alternative programs. There are still good paying jobs for those with training but not a degree.
1
In the 1970s I paid less than $100 per semester at San Diego State University and received the GI Bill. This could eventually lift our state out of the bottom that we frequently inhabit. After receiving a PhD in 1990 I had very little debt, and came from a quite poor family.
9
@M.S. Shackley
I attended California community and state colleges and graduated from the University of California, San Diego in 1972 and the most tuition I paid then was $900 for my final year at UCSD because California provided support for its higher education from taxes. First to graduate from college in my family, it was the ticket for upward mobility and I was able to maintain my position in the middle class into retirement without the burden of debt. This would be a game changer for New Mexico. One of the key needs for New Mexico's economic development is providing a capable and well-trained workforce for employers who would readily move here due to our low cost of living.
55,000 students for $35 million - doesn’t anybody do the math? Less than $700 a student!
Clearly a way lowball figure to sell the plan before people figure out the real cost.
1
@SteveA
New Mexico already has a Lottery Scholarship, which this piece doesn't really talk about, that covers about 60% of the tuition of all NM high school graduates who attend an NM university, maintain a 2.5 GPA, and attend school full time.
This program would seem to supplement that.
Also, NM in-state tuition is fairly low already.
9
We watch as state-funded universities blow hundreds of millions of dollars on sports programs, obscenely opulent campuses and athletic facilities, luxurious dorms, concierge-level services for students, and other unnecessary and irresponsible expenses.
At the same time, they are juniorizing their faculty, relying on adjuncts and instructors for many of their undergraduate courses, burdening their students with decades of debt, and excluding huge swaths of qualified kids who cannot afford the rising tuition.
New Mexico is temporarily lucky that state revenue outpaces education inflation due to new gas and oil revenue, but those gains won't last forever and when education inflation once again exceeds state revenue growth, this plan will need to be reassessed.
As a society, we can apply band-aids like New Mexico has for a time, but until we force ourselves to address the hard questions of what the function and experience of publicly funded universities should be, we have not solved anything.
68
@JSD
So I guess you don’t buy the hundreds of stories in the Times about the obscene profits made by college sports. You are correct. College sports, which includes women, are a drain on a school budget except for a few like Purdue University which has a completely self sufficient athletic department. The downside is fewer men’s and women’s sports.
8
I don’t see that at all. I teach at CUNY. There are some dorms but they are operated separately by private companies
1
@JSD
We're going to refer to you as Gloomy Gus.
1
As a New Mexican and an educator I wish I felt more optimistic about this move but with a 46% functionally illiterate population it is hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel. We have already had the Lottery Scholarship in place for decades, paying for the first two years of college. It is hard for me to forget the removal of stacks into storage at UNM's Zimmerman Library to make room for remedial reading classes when that scholarship was first instituted in the late 1990s. I fail to see how this may prove to be different and lest we forget with every boom comes a bust. Oil and gas don't last forever.
45
@EB
The NM Lottery Scholarship covers four years of college, not two. It always has.
1
@EB
Hopefully the benefits will have a trickle down effect initially and a reverse direction a few years later. I see little downside to a more educated general population.
7
@EB
The poor primary education is why I left New Mexico
5
Florida has the Bright Scholars program which gives stipends that cover much of the tuition for instate students. They need to maintain decent grades. The awards are based on high school achievement and are good at any state school. Nothing new here in New Mexico which we have had here for about 25 years.
7
@James, MD It is new for New Mexico, a state with a ranking near the bottom in terms of providing quality education to its residents.
3
@James, MD "Much" isn't the same as "all."
4
Fantastic!!!! Every state should do this and decide how to pay for it just like New Mexico is doing.
2
In Florida the state lottery is the funding source for the program.
Are they out of their minds? Funding the college education of illegal immigrants is going to backfire badly, both fiscally and politically. It's yet another incentive to cross the border illegally.
2
@John Rohan You've obviously never been to new Mexico, a place where the hospitality, construction, and extractive industries would disappear TOMORROW without undocumented workers. You may not like that, but it IS reality. Any plan to educate people and give them incentives for social mobility and stable employment is a GOOD thing.
9
@Jason Shapiro
As a New Mexican, I would be ok with the hospitality, construction and extractive industries disappearing TODAY.
@John Rohan
Many of us have friends and family on both sides of the border and don’t ascribe to your hysteria over the matter.
3
Shortsighted and counterproductive. Those revenues will soon dry up. More importantly, our country needs more doctors and engineers and computer scientists and fewer sociology, communications and English majors so the money should be prioritized. But it won’t be and millions of dollars will be spent in order to provide Starbucks with some expensively educated baristas.
12
@ehillesum
The NM Bar has a committee trying to figure out what to do about a severe lack of attorneys in rural areas.
While this plan only covers undergrad tuition, a student graduating debt-free with a BA before law school would be in a better position to live in a rural area upon becoming a lawyer. And good attorneys understand things like sociology, communications and English. Let’s prioritize education. Period.
16
@ehillesum
Petroleum engineers have improved methods of getting more oil out for the next decade. Probably a few computer scientists helped them along with 3 d mapping read by geologists.
Where were we when we shot holes in those ideas. Not at Starbucks since I don't drink coffee. It keeps me awake during the day.
1
We still need English majors, people who can write, read and analyze text
12
After reading an article yesterday that addresses the paltry pay adjunct professors receive and lack of benefits, I’m wondering how the current system is sustainable? The entire ecosystem of higher learning is full of inequities that have to be simultaneously addressed.
https://hyperallergic.com/516702/how-much-does-an-adjunct-actually-make/
3
Socialists! Even in Canada, tuition isn’t free.
1
Investing in education—bad! Only those with money should go to college!
1
If you’re poor, move to New Mexico, satisfy some brief residency requirement perhaps while working part time, get accepted into a public college and attend tuition free.
4
@Richard Wright
You have to be a graduate of a New Mexico high school.
3
@Barbara T
I should correct my comment -- it seems that returning students would have help with tuition assistance at community colleges -- "... it includes funds for adults looking to return to school at community colleges."
I re-stared my degree from NMSU many years after I first began it and failed after high school. My spouse, who was faculty there, worked hard to pay for my education--an education I could not achieve just out of high school because I was not prepared. My grades were horrible and I almost didn't graduate. By the skin of my teeth I got passing SAT scores. I got a very small need-based grant but since I never studied adequately I never learned very well the material that was the foundation for entry level college algebra and calculus -- I just couldn't keep up, and couldn't learn it fast enough so I withdrew from the university. Years later when I decided to continue my degree, we could afford to pay for it and I worked hard to maintain a 4.0 average. I transferred to another state university when we moved and there I graduated magna cum laude and got a graduate degree. I had tremendous support at home and I knew to reach out when I needed help, and I continued to work very hard. These are the reasons I succeeded. We paid for all of my education out of our own pocket and I would never begrudge anyone a free degree just because mine was not. If someone can do the hard work it takes to earn a college degree then they should get one, even for free. I'd like to think I would have worked just as hard for mine if we did not have to pay for it.
And isn't it wonderful these days to see a college and university system make the front page for doing something good?
67
@FRITZ
NMSU '84
Grew up in a family of 8 children. Mom was a housewife, and Dad worked in the Steel Mills of NW Indiana, never making more than about $25,000/Yr.
Dad told us that we will never work in the Steel Mills and pushed us to get good grades to get into college. I found my way to NMSU, when I parents relocated after my Dad retired. Of the 8 kids, 7 have degrees with 4 having advanced degrees.
I relocated to CA. after graduating. The State & Federal aid/grants have proven to be a very good investment on my part.
I know many people from NM, with similar stories.
The GI bill was the best investment the government ever made. The return on the dollar is extraordinary.
Please NM don't give up. Find a way to make it work.
California had the education system that was the envy of the world. They paid for everyone's education through PHD, if you could get into a state school.
Then Governor Ronald Reagan happened. He said "Why should I pay for your education, when after you graduate, you'll protest everything I'm for?"
He ended free college education soon after.
Don't let this happen. An educated public draws in companies into your area. California got Aerospace & Silicon Valley because of this.
NM can do the same.
10
This is like the German system. Free tuition (even for international students) with assurance from family or self of living expense support. Other European countries also offer free tuition: France, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Greece, perhaps others also. As the article says, decades ago a high school diploma was a ticket to the middle class. Now it is not.
14
A college education has become financially prohibitive for many young people, at the same time a college education is a requirement for a good job.
Too many professional organizations have made a college education mandatory for a job. Perhaps more companies could offer apprenticeships or on the job training.
For instance, usually there is a requirement of at least a 2-year certificate to qualify for a job as a medical coding clerk. I know from personal experience that coding is a skill that a reasonably intelligent person can easily learn without a 2 year degree.
Remember the days of the G.I. Bill after WWII? What a boon that was for the economy.
6
@Pat Boice
I can only speak to the company I retired from but even apprenticeships and on job training were offered to people with a BS. There are lots of people with BS and BA ready to take entry level positions. And while there are also techs with an associates degree from community college trained in a specific skill set, the opportunities for advancement that used to be common in that cohort are gone. Without a bachelors there’s little room to advance these days.
2
I don't understand the counter-argument against free- schooling extending past high school.
To the many readers, thinking why should it be free for all?
Ask yourself, what negative impact will NM have on 2024 after a whole batch of graduates enter the workforce with 0 school debt (for the most part)??
And while you think about that.. Realize out of all the ways states spend their money, this can be the best cost.
11
@Sebastian
The counter-argument is that increasing funding will increase educational inflation to absorb the new funding, without increasing access or educational quality.
Many argue that the increased access to funding by the expansion of educational loans starting in the 80's drove the increase in tuition expenses which were spent on unnecessary expenses to compete with other institutions subject to similar (thus the billion dollar university stadium, lavish athletic facilities and student centers, etc.). Basically, the universities changed their focus from educating students to attracting new students to fund their ever-increasing tuitions until it became unsustainable and the state has to step back in.
3
@JSD-NM has already had basically free tuition for NM residents who maintain a 2.5 GPA for decades through its Lottery Scholarship program. Due to a decrease in lottery proceeds, this program is only making up the difference. New Mexico has one of the lowest higher education costs in the country, despite having free tuition since 1996 (I graduated Undergrad there). There is no evidence of "educational inflation" ever having affected New Mexico.
4
@Alex
Since 1998:
In-state tuition at the University of New Mexico has increase 60% over inflation.
Out-of-state tuition at the University of New Mexico has increase 675% over inflation.
In-state tuition at New Mexico State University has increase 103% over inflation.
Out-of-state tuition at New Mexico State University has increase 548% over inflation.
* Source: The Chronicle of Higher Education
https://www.chronicle.com/interactives/tuition-and-fees
1
No mention of climate change?
I am all in for free college, but what a cynical ploy to bind people to fossil fuels. Free education? Sure. But only if you commit to life-killing greenhouse gas emissions.
The reporter notes that the oil revenues are rolling in from the Permian Basin, but fails to point out that it has enough oil reserves to lock us into catastrophic climate changes. The continued efforts to exploit the reserves will guarantee that the world into which the debt-free graduates will enter will be radically diminished. Food scarcity, extreme weather, massive infrastructure destruction, water scarcity - you name it.
I have a better idea: tax the wealthy to fund education and leave the fossil fuels in the ground.
2
@Alycee Lane I fully agree that more of our energy needs to come from renewables, but New Mexico is a poor state. And this money is coming from a tax: it’s coming from a tax on the oil that’s being drawn out of the ground. We’re not letting oil companies have it for free!
Hopefully, with more college-educated graduates, we’ll be able to attract more white-collar jobs and we won’t need the oil anymore!
1
@Jorge Perez Thank you for your comment, Jorge; you make a good point and I certainly wish for New Mexico more prosperity (a Green New Deal for the people would be great!). Yet, to avoid catastrophic climate change, we need to get to net zero emissions by 2025. Instead of using oil revenues as a means to expand the population of college graduates (and to attract, as a consequence, more white collar jobs), why not insist on a Green New Deal? At least with a GND, we won't be scorching Earth and, more specifically, New Mexico. According to States at Risk, "New Mexico averages 20 days a year classified as dangerous [in terms of extreme heat]. By 2050, the state is projected to face twice as many such days, almost 40 a year." Given that scientists have routinely underestimated the frequency and severity of short term climate changes, I think it's safe to say that NM might be facing those numbers sooner than 2050 and certainly sooner than it can graduate enough people to attract white collar jobs. So on top of the poverty, NM will suffer as well extreme climate, climate that will of course most heavily impact poor people. Relying on oil revenues locks in this nightmarish scenario and will end up costing NM millions of dollars, the fact of which will make it an even poorer state.
@Alycee Lane
How about we in the US work on engineering engines that produce no emissions? There are already some prototypes for this. Are our engineers and scientists incapable of doing this? This can be applied to most industrial uses for fuels. Examine the example of Norway, a country that produces much oil but also is a world leader in reducing emissions linked to climate change.
Also, and this may seem unfair, it seems to me easy for those is areas in which there is more tax revenue and less (or no) oil and gas to argue that states such as New Mexico, which is a poor state, should leave it those fuels in the ground. But whatever you think or wish for, that toil and gas is coming out of the ground. And better to use the state revenues from it for educating all its peoples, rather than for, say, tax rebates and cuts for the rich.
One of the greatest economic expansions in US history took place after WWII, when the GI bill allowed veterans of all ages, backgrounds and economic means to attend college and graduate school. New Mexico is on the right track.
13
A double edged sword is how I look at this. The oil revenues are great as long as one doesn't consider the damage fracking is doing to a state facing serious drought. Oil revenues are a blip on the radar screen and NM has been down this road many times before. The money comes and the money goes (just like the oil and the Texans) and NM once again remains a poor state
2
@Bella it’s true that oil revenues are fickle, but that’s why I’m happy that the state is spending the money on education. Education is the best way we can lift ourselves out of poverty long-term.
8
As a New Mexico native, and a graduate of University of New Mexico in 2010, I was dismayed that this article did not mention the Lottery Scholarship. This program utilizes the sale of lottery tickets to already pay for college tuition for NM residents that maintain a 2.5 gpa who had graduated from a NM high school. Unfortunately, while it paid my full tuition in 2010 (not student fees though), it has became underfunded and no longer covers the full cost of college. This new proposal will make up for the difference.
I was particularly shocked that the author of this piece did not mention the pre-existing lottery scholarship, as it is extremely well known in New Mexico.
8
I've always wanted to go to UNM. It's one pf my favorite colleges. I'm lucky to have a ton of family in Albuquerque. I guess I'll just move there right out of high school and wait until I qualify as a being a in state student.
2
@Marcus If you live in Washington state and you are still in high school, you could already be getting college credit by attending community college through the Running Start program.
This is better than Excelsior, but again *not free*. To be free tuition and all fees need to be covered without having to resort to grants and state aid first. You know, like other countries.
1
This is good. The people deserve some dividend for the massive amount of wealth that has been created in this country from the freedom to create technological development. What better dividend than free education to make the necessary investment to continue this economic success and wealth creation.
2
As a long time resident of New Mexico, a retired public school educator and a graduate(maters degree)of the University of New Mexico this is most welcomed news for the youth of our very poor state. Increasingly higher education has been out of reach for many of our low income students and their families as New Mexico is just now emerging from the recession of 2008. Wages and salaries have not kept pace with the rising cost of tuition. After eight years of a failed republican governorship which attacked and slashed the budgets of public schools and institutions of higher ed, New Mexico turned blue in 2018 and the reinvestment in education is now reemerging under democratic leadership. We are going to invest our increasing oil and gas revenues in the right place . . .not with a tax cut but an investment in our youth and our future!
24
Now that more states are offering free tuition, I’d like to see studies on retention and graduation rates. Are more students finishing college? Are professors under any new pressure to pass students along?
I teach at a high school that is close to half 5th year seniors, and a few are taking advantage of the opportunity, too many are using it as one more year to tell their parents that they’re working hard in class, when in fact they’re not making sufficient progress to graduate. But they get free school supplies, free lunch, psych services, AC.
3
@Carol M
Good grief. What a petty post about needy students at your school. I sincerely hope you are nearing retirement.
6
@Anon Thank you for diminishing my experience. Do you not want to know if programs and initiatives are successful? That’s all I’m asking for, a look at success rates, because what I know is my own experience, which isn’t everyone else’s.
I graduated from Brooklyn College when it was tuition free. As I recall, we all studied hard. Those who did not, dropped out.
I doubt if people are deliberately goofing off in high school so they can get free lunch.
1
As a NM resident, I really hope this works. After addressing climate collapse a.s.a.p., I believe education for all Americans is an issue of primary importance.
11
I have spent a lot of time in New Mexico and the colleges there are small and usually out in the middle of nowhere. I can see where this plan is great for them but in the larger states with gigantic colleges and srtingy Republicans running them it seems to me impossible.
1
@Betsy Herring
UNM's main campus is located in Albuquerque, a small out-of-the-way village of 560,000 residence (the 32nd biggest U.S. city with about the population of Baltimore).
6
Just two pieces of data to consider:
(1) The tuition assistance program annual cost (statewide):
$25 to $35 million
(2) UNM Athletic Program annual budget (one institution): $33.5 million
29
@JSD-As mentioned by others, the cost of tuition is already nearly completely funded by proceeds of the state-run lottery for students who maintain a 2.5 gpa. This is merely making up the difference due to a decrease in lottery sales.
3
This plan demonstrates that "there ain't no such thing as a free lunch." The people of NM won't pay for college with money; instead they -- and we -- will pay with a deteriorating climate from burning all that oil, and depletion of desert aquifers by the people who move there.
2
@MaltaMango
What desert aquifer? We have the Rio Grande and various other suface water diversions feeding into it.
But you are most certainly correct that people in the MD area burn a lot of oil sitting--largely sitting in traffic.
God bless New Mexico. Education sets one free.
8
This is fantastic. The cost of a college education in the US is a barrier to gaining that education for many and a financial burden of huge debt for many who manage to make it happen with loans. I went to college and medical school in the UK back when it was free for UK citizens & permanent residents (not for overseas students). Tuition is charged at UK universities (colleges) these days but nowhere near the amounts in the US. This decision will make a tangible difference for many young people. I hope (but won't hold my breath) that more states follow.
6
@waritalks
How about this? Let's get New Mexicans to complete free high school before we start worrying about free college.
Absolutely great! The Presidential candidates offering free college are really just giving a blank check to state governments to keep raising tuition year after year often by double digits. No wonder our youngest and brightest either can't afford to go to college or end up with student loans completely out of sync with their ability to pay especially for careers in areas like teaching. Somehow we need to create a national comparison of tuition at state institutions across the US. Even cutting existing tuition by 50% at most if not all state universities would be incredible, what New Mexico is doing shows real vision and I suspect they will see the rewards for decades to come!
7
I'm middle aged and my parents paid for my college education to attend a state college in Ohio in the mid 80s. The cost was not insignificant especially since I had two other siblings also going to school but they were able to pay for all three of us to go to school on mediocre middle class income.
Living in northern Ohio, most of the new college graduates I knew couldn't find a decent paying professional job and were working at the mall, fast food joints or left the state altogether to find a decent job. After years of financially struggling, I decided to join the U.S. military to pay for graduate school, where I ate a lot of crow for three years, which enabled me to pay for the majority of my master degree while attending another state school (in the mid 90s) including my tuition and living expenses. I took out a loan of $3,500, which I paid off in two years.
Comparing my experience with the people today, and I realize I was quite blessed. Most of my coworkers under 40 are massively in debt from attending undergrad and grad school. One of my coworkers had to sell his house to pay off just over half of his children's college debt and he's now retiring early to get more money to pay off his debt.
We need to fix this university debt problem quick and I applaud NM for leading the way.
6
@Sasha Love
When you join the military, and get veterans' benefits, you get the benefits, like education and health care, of living in a democratic socialist country.
Too bad we can't all get those benefits.
1
Wonderful!
6
Why offer free college to people who have the means to pay.
This is a foolish plan and will backfire when the oil revenues drop
6
@Carl
The reason for providing free education for all, rather than only to the "worthy poor," is that the government would have to set financial eligibility standards.
In reality, the families of wealthy college have lawyers and accountants to figure out ways to make their children meet the low-income standard. For example, students declare "emancipation," with the fiction that they are supporting themselves on part-time jobs.
The people who are skilled in hiding assets for tax purposes are skilled at hiding assets for tuition assistance purposes.
One parent explained that if he gave his son the money to buy a new car, that would be counted as his family's income. However, if his son's grandfather or uncle gave him the money, that would not be counted as income.
Hillary Clinton's line was, "Why should Donald Trump's children go to college for free?" I have 3 good answers:
(1) As her friends at the Children's Defense Fund used to say, "programs for the poor are poor programs." In England, everybody gets the same health care. Years ago, a wealthy woman's son died of kidney failure because the expensive treatments that we had in the US weren't available. She organized to have the NHS treat *everybody.* In the US, conservatives are saying, "Well, you can't treat everyone for everything."
(2) The rich pay (or should pay) more taxes. So I think it's fair for them to get the same benefit as the rest of us.
(3) The cost of deciding who should pay what is enormous.
2
Tennessee has offered a similar two-year program for about four years now, and it only requires eight hours of community service on the part of the student and a minimum 2.0 College GPA to remain eligible.
The program was introduced by Republican Governor Bill Haslam and was enacted while he was in office, so it is clear that programs like these can be enacted under a Republican-led government, which gives me hope that New Mexico may have some success with its program.
I myself am a High School Senior and am looking into the Tennessee Promise program; however, its limitations are beginning to reveal themselves.
Ideally, you would apply to a Tennessee Community College or Technical School where you would be placed on a pathway to graduate with your Bachelor's Degree; however, the community colleges in the area don't offer certain programs, so you'd have to commute or move to another part of the state to get those first two years.
I'd like to see the program in Tennessee expanded to some four year colleges like New Mexico is planning and other states have done, because you can really see a difference in our schools. Students who never considered going to college because their parents did not go or because they thought they could not afford it are genuinely taking an interest and looking for ways to go from High School to a post-secondary and even explore ways to work after their associates to pay for their bachelor's.
14
@Jariel J. Which majors are not offered in Community Colleges in Clarksville or middle TN?
@Jariel J.
As the NYT has repeatedly reported, Germany offers free college education to American students.
A mayor of a German town told the NYT that, when students work in the town after they graduate, they pay taxes, which overall pays back the cost of education in 3 years.
3
Free college tuition does not increase access to higher education. It is a new subsidy to families that already send their kids to college.
The ‘cost’ of college has three parts: tuition/fees/books, living expenses, opportunity cost (the opportunities foregone while attending college).
It is more well off families who are best positioned to take advantage of ‘free tuition’ and subsidize or absorb the other costs of college.
Less affluent students face barriers to college completion — we know that — but ‘free tuition’ does not get them over those hurdles.
3
@Clare
But it's a step in the right direction
4
@Clare Can "opportunity costs" be helped with the student working part-time and taking longer to get the degree?
3
@Clare It makes no sense to say that this won’t make a difference to low-income families. I teach at an elementary school here in NM, and plenty of families are used to tightening their belts and having large families live together, for instance. It would be huge to have tuition paid for, and students could work a job to pay for books while living at home. This could make it doable for many more than are able to now. People who can afford to send their kids to college often have them go somewhere else. Middle-class families struggle in different ways to pay for college would be able to have an affordable option for students who really shouldn’t be saddled with debt for various reasons. For instance, my son is very intelligent but has a mental illness and a chronic physical illness that will be present for the rest of his life. Both conditions will require medication, one of them extremely expensive and unaffordable without insurance, and debt is something he cannot afford. This would be a lifesaver for our middle-class family. The cost of a university education right now is crushing for those of us who make too much for large need-based scholarships, but don’t make enough to pay outright for our children to go to college.
Free education, free medical care, Guaranteed National Income and defunding the military will solve most of our ills.
21
@Mexico Mike
Yes, gawd knows that we shouldn't invest in the good health and advanced education of our citizens. And those military contractors can't even earn a decent living........
2
Hopefully the science curriculum of an oil funded college will be willing to teach the facts on climate change.
20
To this day I thank the Russians for sending me to college. I was raised in Appalachia in a poor but loving family and had little chance of moving from bookmobile to a university library.
Then the Ruskies sent a little beeping metal ball they called “sputnik” into orbit around the earth and America panicked. Suddenly I received a full scholarship to a state university, access to a 3% loan (which I mostly ignored, relying on 3 part time jobs) and I was on my way (ultimately to a PhD). And I was/am not alone. The panic sent a huge number of us to college who couldn’t have gone otherwise.
The point? Mostly, the funding of public education shouldn’t have to be dependent on panic. Worry about whether we’re going to “lose ground” to the Chinese, for example, shouldn’t be our motivation to support higher ed. It’s an accounting problem, not a moral conundrum as to whether a young person earns his or her own way, or can contribute to the computerization of everything.
Kudos to New Mexico for using oil revenue to fund public higher education. When the oil dries up, find another source. You other states? Follow their lead. Those who don’t avail themselves of higher ed? Respect yourselves, others, and what you do. But it shouldn’t be about “can’t.”
64
Rjon, I am with you on that one. Sputnik was the last time our country got behind education, supported it financially, and showed respect for teachers and their profession. I had passionately hoped that before it collapsed, the Soviet Union would land someone on Mars, so that once again our country might respect and support teaching and learning.
One other thing our education system has lost: the sense that its purpose is not merely job training, but the broad enlightenment of individuals, and the education of citizens, the latter absolutely necessary for the functioning of a republican democracy. Back then, "citizen" was not a politicized talking point but a concept with respected content involving both rights and responsibilities.
10
@rjon
Exactly! I thank Sputnik for my education.
I hope Huawei and Foxconn will do the same for American education today.
And yes, Steve Fankuchen, even the engineering students had to read Socrates and Dostoyevsky in their (required) freshman humanities course. Scientific American used to have a column called "Science and the Citizen," and publish articles on the threat of nuclear war.
6
@Norman
Norman, I expect that, in the short term at least and not for the better, we are dinosaurs. Contrary to Silicon Valley's mantra which got us a President Trump, not all disruption is progress. But I am optimistic about America, even if my vindication will be posthumous.
Que viva Socrates!
2
This is certainly an area where states, rather than the federal government, can and ought to step in.
If, say, Oklahoma doesn't value education, why does the federal government need to force it down their throats?
1
@Jim S.
Why? because EVERYONE deserves a free and fair public education system and in this age, one cannot move forward without a college/technical degree.
4
Proud to be a New Mexican today.
It's simple to be humane, even if the motivation is ultimately pragmatic.
It gives me a headache to think how difficult it must be to be a Republican, getting up each day worried about how to make life worse for everyone: today it's increasing air pollution, tomorrow denying women control of their bodies. Above all, making sure that you're just dandy while everyone else isn't.
80
What is New Mexico’s plan if the Democrat President hopeful squeezes oil production and fracking out of existence when elected? Wouldn’t it be cruel to offer free college to illegal aliens, and not give them healthcare and nutritional aid and housing too? Obviously this program will become a magnet for more non citizens. Shouldn’t affordable housing be considered too? What happens when oil profits are gone? This program is encouraging global warming, and should be seen as the catastrophe it will cause.
1
@Kenfor For how long? College students, for voting purposes, only have to live in the city a short period of time to be a resident. As for qualified residency, who wouldn’t move there for 6 months, or a year to get a free college education for all their kids? You would have to make waiting for immigration hearings eligible, just like k through 12. The important thing, is to get all the free goodies, subsidies, and affordable housing ready for the people who will be entitled for all stuff taxing fossil fuels would pay for.
It's good to see the states picking up some of the slack left by a feckless federal government. Providing its citizens with a decent education should be a goal of any competent government. A high school education no longer feeds the bulldog.
5
This is great. Just don't rely on oil revenues to fund it. In Louisiana our state relies on oil revenue projections for our budget: thus it's woefully underfunded most of the time. Our university system and (healthcare) are the only constitutionally allowed areas to take from to "balance" budget shortfalls. So our state universities have had massive funding cuts for the past 10+ years. It set back our flagship university, LSU's private fundraising effort by 20+ years. Important faculty left. TOPS scholarships (fully funded education for H.S. students with high GPAs) was nearly eliminated. It's been a disaster.
3
@Change Happens-The state run lottery proceeds already pays for the majority of tuition costs for N.M. undergrads with >2.5 gpa. As lottery proceeds have decreased as compared to the number of students (a good thing), this will make up the difference in funding.
2
Does New Mexico. Guarantee a spot in college to every student that wants one and is qualified for one? If not it is not offering “free college” to every qualified student the way in which every state guarantees a free high school education to every student. There MUST be enough capacity at High School level to meet demand set by the requirement of universal education. Not so for colleges.
Unless New Mexico is willing to expand capacity, and admit all comers, this is as best a partial solution with many downstream negative consequences.
If, for example, the competition for scarce seats in the system heats up because more students who might otherwise be willing to pay tuition and are less price sensitive suddenly opt for the tuition free good state college over a private or out of state school that is not tuition free, who do you think will lose out?
The obvious answer... less prepared and less financially well off students. As a result the already haves will be subsidized by the have nots who cannot compete with them on equal terms.
That’s why the oft repeated trope that since High School is tuition free college should be too is misleading. People are guaranteed a place in high school they are not guaranteed one in a state college or university.
Along with free tuition will likely come stricter limits on access ... probably in the guise of more rigorous admission standards, which are likely again to play to the haves rather than the have nots.
1
Bravo , bravo ...
That’s the best way to compete between states. Now , who will be the first to guarantee public healthcare.
And watch people migration decisions following.
4
My daughter and granddaughter who have dual citizenship are already planning to leave the US.
New Mexico is wise to invest its money in higher education. it is a poor state but also relatively small meaning it can fund each generation of college students who in turn using the power of their education can reinvest their skills and talents to enrich the state. We lose a lot of our best students to other wealthier states who can siphon them off through scholarships. We need an incentive to keep the best minds here but also to improve the lives for those who barely earn a living. To those who talk about 'free', I would counter they don't complain about the 'free' road system they use daily. Or how about the 700 billion dollars spent on the military just this past year. How sustainable is that? We borrow that money without a care as to how it will be repaid.
23
Free or not free, it still takes the effort to finish college. Maybe now kids can focus on school success.
11
This is what happens when Democrats control a state government. Not to mention NM is majority Hispanic. Don’t expect to see it in the Republican controlled states. Even in Arizona where the state constitution requires the state university to be as free as possible the GOP will not support public education. Their base is more concerned with guns and low taxes.
6
When the government says they're going to make something "free" what they mean is they're going to make someone else pay for it.
3
Doesn’t every family have at least one person who wants a college education?
1
@ScienceABC123
No, they mean that when a state *invests* in education that is free to the student, that student will graduate and pay back the state's investment many times.
German universities will accept American students with the same free tuition and benefits as German students. The mayor of a German town told the NYT that when they graduate, they pay taxes that repay their investment in 3 years.
Andrew Grove got a free education at CCNY. He co-founded Intel. How much of a return did society get on Grove's education?
That's a much better investment for the government than, say, cutting taxes in the belief that tax cuts more than pay for themselves.
1
@ScienceABC123-Just like our “free” roads? Our “free” police and firefighters? Our “free” military (currently $700 billion a year)? Our “free” elementary schools? It seems to me that you are disgruntled when public money does not pay for your particular interest. At least higher education serves a greater good than spending trillions on a war we could never find the WMDs we thought they had.
1
Two simple requirements to maintain a specified grade level and to look for work in state for 2-5 years would validate the investment the latter would require the state to invest in jobs.
11
They should definitely limit the number of years someone can sit in school (4 1/2 sounds reasonable to me) from someone who graduated in 3 1/4 years working 20 hours a week with a high GPA (and this was before grade inflation) and make students keep a high GPA to get the money. I personally would not want to be funding someone to go and sit in school to "find himself" for 7 years.
6
A noble approach and one that would have saved me paying off my husband’s student loan to New Mexico State after our marriage!
5
@ManhattanWilliam
Yup, this will be the case for many who took out loans and successfully repaid them.
But we have to start somewhere, and I applaud NM’s efforts.
And don’t forget that tuition is only a part of what it costs to go to college. Students will,still,have to work and maybe take out loans. But this will be a big help
8
Why don’t all democratic controlled stated do this. It’s th right thing to do both morally and politically - we all know the more literate the electorate the more votes for Democrats.
6
@Andy We also know that the more literate the electorate is the better the US is.
4
New Mexico should look to Louisiana before deciding to vest so much of its future in revenue from oil. Making promises based on a source of income that can vastly fluctuate due to circumstances beyond the state’s control has been a bad deal for Louisiana and its people. It’s forced the state into one budgetary crisis after another because as usual, given the choice between a conservative figure or the pie-in-the-sky estimate of future income, pie-in-the-sky is always a winner for politicians. Tread carefully, New Mexico, or midway through college, those hopeful students will find themselves without the means to finish their educations because the bottom has fallen out of the literal barrel.
3
As an NM resident this worries me too. I love the idea, but we already rolled back some of the lottery funded scholarship and I am concerned that when the oil dries up or we finally push past fossil fuels, the bottom will fall out.
4
@Bridget Boustany - Alaska also suffers now by basing a lot of its finances on oil. If NM goes with this plan, they might want to discount any long-term revenue projections from oil. Once electric cars start to take off, oil demand will go flat or down, and people should note that the fracking industry has lots of debt, but little profit to show already.
So Ford's rolling out an electric F-150 in 2021. That's a marker for a big change in what's to come for the oil industry.
1
@b fagan
Hey Cub Fan .
This Luddite thinks that electrical and/or self driving cars are years away.. I'm projecting that Tesla will be broke in 5 years. And that Musk will be sued for securities fraud and might even go to jail for diverting money back and forth with his space ventures.
Tesla died penniless and Epstein died rich but some believe he's still alive but in a cave with a cell phone cutting deals.
We’ve had a similar program in Louisiana for decades. Two generations of Louisianans have received college educations largely funded by the taxpayers and have graduated largely debt free.
The program probably won’t last another decade though. Lawmakers have realized it’s essentially taxpayer-funded workforce development for Texas and Nashville and Atlanta. Louisiana doesn’t have the economy or jobs to attract these kids once they graduate. So, we spend billions educating them only to see most of them leave right after graduation to go somewhere else. So much for a virtuous cycle. Great for the kids. Not a great investment for the state or the taxpayers.
New Mexico and Louisiana share some similarities, I hope this doesn’t lead to the same results for them.
6
It seems like things that are given away for free are generally not cherished by the recipients. If college is free, will those students have enough of a personal investment in their education to take it seriously, or is this just another scheme to extend adolescence into the early 20's?
4
@Aaron Friedman.
Just look at the rest of the developed nations around the world.
13
@Aaron Friedman
Not true. I am an old man who benefitted from tuition free education in California in the late 50s and 60s. I have been eternally grateful for the chance to get a world class education at Berkeley for $40 or so per semester. One had to pay for books and living expenses, but no tuition--which made attendance possible.
15
@Aaron Friedman
Last I checked (and I'm finishing an MBA right now), college education is never "free" for the student. It requires a huge commitment of time, effort, and money in lost wages, quite independent of tuition. I got my first degree at UT Austin in the mid-1980s. At that time tuition at Texas' flagship university was $4/semester hour. Full time tuition was about $225/semester with fees. Those Texans - what a bunch of crazy socialists! History has clearly shown what kind of an investment that was for them.
10
This idea may help the smaller state colleges and community colleges to help train the workforce needed for the future. Example is that Los Alamos labs will have a huge percentage of their workforce retire in the next 5 years and partnership with colleges to train high level workers for complex jobs is essential. Multiply that by renewable energy workers, environmental workers and you have tied the future prospects of the state to the educational workforce it needs. This move will be funded by increased taxes from an educated workforce in a state that is crucial for renewable energy for the Southwest and Mountain states in the future.
26
New Mexico Tech. Socorro, NM. High quality tech education, low tuition. Almost free.
19
Obviously an educated Nation is certainly preferable to an uneducated one.
I would question how a relatively poor State such as New Mexico could make this a reality.
@Pierre La Pue,
It is a matter of priorities and vision. If you want to create a state with a more productive, more skilled workforce, you have to start at home building the skills in your own people.
This program also addresses another serious need in the USA, access to education for indigeneous people who have been largely ignored and subordinated to low paying jobs.
This is an investment in the future.
21
@Pierre La Pue
How relatively reach country like US can not afford to invest in next generations. Prioritizing big banks credit system. Sounds crazy.
3
Mention of making use of newly abundant oil revenues brings back memories of the period just after 2001. Then-Governor McGreevey of New Jersey came out of an education pow-wow to announce that education funding was at one of its historical crisis points. States had switched their education funding mechanisms to depend heavily on Dot-com capital gains, score points with voters by lowering taxes that traditionally funded schools. Dot-com bust - no funding!
That is great! With college costing $65,000 +, I'll bet a lot of people move there to avoid a lifetime of debt.
By the way, my cousin in Denmark gets paid about $900/month to go to college.
132
@JLT. It’s great if they spend the money on STEM students and not the liberal arts programs that prepare many college students for under- or unemployment. But they won’t and millions will be wasted. New Mexico will still have too few doctors and engineers and too many baristas.
7
@ehillesum-I am a practicing Doctor in NM with a STEM undergraduate degree from the University of New Mexico (my undergrad tuition was paid for by the Lottery Scholarship which funded my full tuition). Though I may not have a liberal arts degree, I understand the value in one. My NM peers from a decade ago with a liberal arts education have gone on to become lawyers, business men and women, teachers, and yes, even doctors. Even if someone is underemployed after college, higher education has a protective effect against crime, drug use and unplanned pregnancy. This in itself should be a major reason for funding our Universities, as it prevents the American public from having to pay for the costs of later incarceration, unwanted pregnancies, and the ills of drug crime. Finally, the liberal arts attempts to describe and contemplate the world around us. Though I too have criticisms with some of the methodology, this is invaluable in our educated world. We need individuals to push the boundaries, research what constitutes our society, and create critical thinkers in the global economy.
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@ehillesum
UNM has a strong medical and engineering school and the only level one trauma center in the state AND educated the 2019 US poet laureate. A school can and should be both/and
21
Born and raised New Mexican here.
While I think this is a great idea, I found it exceedingly odd that this article makes almost zero mention of the existing “free college” program already in place in NM, which we call the lottery scholarship and the bridge scholarship.
It doesn’t pay the full cost of tuition anymore, so not technically free these days, but it still covers about 2/3. But when I was in college, about ten years ago, the lottery scholarship did pay my entire tuition. It’s been a long running program open to those who graduate from NM high schools and go directly into state colleges. It’s funded (obviously) by money from powerball and other lottery games.
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@Cv-Graduated UNM in 2010. I too was shocked that the author made no mention of the Lottery Scholarship which has been going on since 1996. It is not like this is an obscure program, as literally every young NM resident at a public NM college qualifies if they maintain a 2.5 gpa. As you point out, it no longer covers the full cost of tuition, and now the difference will be made up for by oil & gas revenue. I found the omission to be shoddy work by the author of this piece.
12
@Cv the lottery scholarship currently covers 60% of tuition (down from 90% a few years ago). After the decrease public colleges saw a dramatic decrease in freshman enrollment. This would be a boost for those seeking to further education for sure.
2
@Cv I believe the NM Lottery program only covers students who go directly from high school into college or soon there after (within 16 months of graduating high school). Not those who start college as "adults", years later, i.e. those who go to college after after they missed the 16 month grace period. Also have to maintain 15 credit hours at state college or 12 hrs at community college per semester. I suspect those who come to college years later have reasons why they could not maintain 15 or 12 credit hrs per semester or start within 16 months, as "life happens". Maybe they can do 6-10 hrs per semester because they are taking care of an adult or kid, or job situation. I'm 47 and taking classes at CNM (Central NM collage in ABQ) and with my job, one or two classes a semester is all I can muster, my girlfriend also going to CNM can do a few more hours, but has a kid in grade school. Being in her 30's she's well past any NM lottery scholarship. Maybe this new program will bridge the gap as she goes forward. I suspect I won't qualify for much if anything. So far I've just been paying myself. But transferring to UNM is still questionable, I'm not sure I can afford it. However, maybe I will be surprised and this will help pay for going to UNM; but again I can't do a full course load and I don't know if this program does part time students like myself. I still have to pay for my housing and food myself etc. Thus why I can't leave my job or any job. So college can only be part time
4
There is a value to an education. The student should have ‘some skin in the game’. Even if their investment is tied to the hourly wages of working at a fast food joint. Should not be a free ride.
Also if everyone gets the benefit, then it will do nothing for leveling the economic playing field.
3
@RJJ
The "skin in the name" nonsense is the result of exploitative capitalist thinking that denigrates the individual and represses society as a whole.
8
@RJJ Please understand that while everyone gets the benefit, not everyone will take the benefit. Those that do get the education will be ahead of those who do not.
The playing field was leveled at the offer of a free education to everyone.
3
You are right. Probably a disproportionate of the wealthy will take advantage of the offer while those in the lower percentages will be sabotaged by other life commitments such as child care or having to work long hours to survive.
After paying fully for three degrees at private colleges, have no desire to pick up the tab for those who can amply cover the costs on their own.
1
Perhaps this will finally allow state colleges to raise their admission standards. A solid number of students in my college classes simply don't belong there, but have been accepted simply to keep tuition dollars (not from the state) rolling in. It has gotten to the point where I now feel that I am merely teaching AT a college, but not at college level.
9
@Jim
Hey Slim Jim,
soe
While I understand your frustration in baby sitting some students especially those who are perpetual students. I do detect a bit of elitism.
Two questions if I may. What subject do you teach and does your college allow for children of faculty any freebies ?
This is great, but a mistake: family income should factor into this equation. Otherwise, this scheme will drive income inequality, not fix it! Why not start by saying any family that makes less 200,000 has to pay. Or over a 100,000 pay something.
3
@Joe
Although I understand your overall point New Mexico is different in that most of the wealthy are not going to school here anyway. Most counties here are very poor with the wealth concentrated in a few select locations that include national lab employees, wealthy retirees in places like Santa Fe or the professional class in and around Albuquerque. Albuquerque alone (not a large city) has three very expensive private high schools (25,000/yr)mainly for Anglo newcomers who send their kids out of state for college.
7
To take this further, I’d also say that NM suffers from loss of talent—a lot of high achieving youth move away from New Mexico, or go away for college and don’t end up coming back. The number of higher income families affected by this is fairly low, given how poor the state is across the board. Offering tuition free education across the board might incentivize more youth to stay in NM, a win for the state, even if they are paying for a few families that could afford it on their own. If those students decide to stay in NM because the state covers the tuition, when otherwise there’s less incentive to pick a NM school over an out of state school, it’s a win for everyone.
2
@Joe The reason is that those eleven families already semd their kids out of state.
1
Kudos to New Mexico! It’s about time that so-called affordability is not an issue for a college education. New York’s plan does not go far enough and still sticks a huge tuition bill on middle class families. New York’s program simply reinforces the middle class dilemma: if you’re poor the State will pay your way and if you’re wealthy it’s not a problem. But if you’re middle class then you suffer the financial hardship of college tuition. No wonder NY is losing almost 300 people per day to emigration to other states.
10
Everybody loves free stuff, especially high-cost stuff like college tuition.
The question, of course, is how this will be paid for. This article doesn’t show the math, but I wasn’t aware that New Mexico has (or will have) enough oil/gas tax revenue to pay for this, which means sooner or later the taxpayers will see their taxes rise.
Then there all the suckers who paid for their education at New Mexico colleges and are stuck with big student debt; their resentment will know no bounds.
As Margaret Thatcher aptly noted, the problem with socialism is that sooner or later you run out of other people’s money.
6
@Mon Ray Hey there, I'm one of those "suckers" with debt from a New Mexico college degree. I moved out to NM in 2004 to enroll in UNM, sight unseen. As a destitute young adult with no family support, UNM and Albuquerque was one of the few places in the country I could afford to study and live. I'm now on my feet with a respectable job and have paid down almost all of the debt I accrued at UNM and my subsequent graduate institution. I'm far from resentful that others may receive a similar hand-up in life. If you saw first-hand some of the crushing poverty and third-world conditions our state's young people withstand, you'd perhaps leave your hoity-toity Thatcherisms in formaldehyde, where they belong.
130
@Mon Ray NM received 2.2 billion in state revenue from O&G in 2018.
4
@Billie
What a great post. Gracias.
8
Whatever happened to working your way through college? This is just another step towards socialism.
3
What happened was that your non-“socialist” pals kept growing inequality by pushing entry-level income (the kind students make) down, and pushing their own pay up. States lowered their subsidies for colleges, and colleges kept raising prices faster than inflation. So, now, you can’t pay your way through college. Have you seen what a textbook costs? If you don’t know let me put it this way, textbooks for a full semester load cost as much as an entire month’s take-home pay for a student.
12
@Bill When you make statements like that, you sound uneducated. Throwing the word socialism around only tells us that you are a Fox Political Entertainment watching Republican.
The military is a socialist program. Your fire and police departments are socialist programs. Your school district is a socialist program. You are deeply entrenched in socialist programs.
But, what you don't know is that your party has given all of your money away to the rich and their way of keeping it is using the dog whistle "socialism" to get you to do their bidding for them.
Way to be a good and faithful Republican comrade.
27
@Bill,
Whatever happened to states investing in the future of their own residents? Texas used to pay 85% of costs at state-funded universities. Today, it saddles residents with huge debt and pays only 8%. That is not investment, that is ignorant denial of the needs of a 21st century workforce not based on illegally trafficked sub-minimum wage workers.
10
Great idea. It benefits the state by having an educated population. It also keeps some students from leaving NM
and taking their money with them.
In Texas, whatever extra income is poured down the same old rat hole and the lawmakers say they need more taxes. Meanwhile Trump keeps on wailing about his wall.
NM is full of bright people and they got rid of a bad one when Jeff Epstein died. Did I cover enough current topics ?
10
Short term thinking for even shorter term gain.
Free and oil. That should make some heads explode.
2
While this is a step in the right direction away from the de facto criminal higher education policy we have now, ie put graduates into eternal debt for the rest of their lives, details are important.
1-College should never be totally free unwise you will get abuse. People can eternally use it to skirt work and never get a job. A minimal cost or fee should always be applied. Also requirements should be in place otherwise you will get the open admissions fiasco you had in NYC circa 1970s.
2-Moderate geo restrictions should be put on, otherwise you will be getting the above from all areas of the country into your state.
4
@Paul I wouldn't worry too much about the individuals you mention in your first point. Many colleges have entrance exams and graduation expectations. More effectively, most of these individuals will simply get bored and leave. Besides, people will still want fancy food, fancy clothes and beer money, none of which are covered by these plans.
As for your second point, most public colleges already give preference to residents of their respective states. I would like to suggest that perhaps this should be made somewhat more advantageous to these residents in that the state colleges will consider out of state applicants only if there is space available. So if all the available slots have been taken by in-state students, the college can say to the out of state applicants "Thank you for applying, but we're already full".
Just my opinion, for what it's worth.
4
@Robert-Thank you for your reply. A few points.
1-Not all colleges have entrance exams, expectations. In the 1970s, CUNY had open admissions for thousands that turned out to be a disaster but took a long time to cure.
2-If career students/goof offs get free tuition, they can mooch off of parents for the rest.
3-Agree totally on your second paragraph.
1
When we needed housing in this country we made sure home loans were insured by the full faith and credit of the United States. Today everyone has a lovely home and we have solved our nations housing needs. Right?
Now we propose to spend money on college education for everyone whether they need it or not. Of course, they need it ("it" being education), our experiment in socialized education in the primary and secondary grades has been a bust. It is only in wealthy districts that maintain some modicum of capitalism that students get educated, but even then it is with a lot of help from parents. Heaven forfend vouchers and school choice.
Higher education is in need of intelligent, hard working students. All others need not apply. Wait, What? You mean we have too many colleges already? and the manufacturing jobs have been outsourced to Mexico, Chine, South Korea and we don't want a lot of idle hands doing the devils work in our country? Okay, scratch that college for everyone, that will work. Then everyone will have a lovely home and be educated. Check. Next, healthcare for all?
1
@TOM . You spent a lot of words (well-written I'll give you that) to simply be a naysayer.
1
Are you suggesting that investing in the health and education of Americans is foolish? Keep Americans uneducated and unhealthy?
Ruinous means to achieve a laudable goal. Climate change is already threatening New Mexico. The oil money is hard to give up,but clinging to it will contribute to destabilizing the climate in an already sensitive region.
5
@Ben Lieberman
Not as much as the increasing concentration of people in environmentally unsustainable urban areas, Ben. (Hi, btw) But I suppose the important thing is that NM isn't using those billions to finance tax cuts for the rich folks, but putting them to work for students going to college, many of whom are very much in need of this support. When I think of how many of NM's large Native and Hispanic students will benefit from this, I'm more than fine with it.
Kudos to New Mexico for giving this a try. While Trump plays out his disastrous strategy of attacking anything that looks like progress, the thoughtful states step forward to fill some of the gaps. New Mexico is leading by example.
32
Relying solely on Permian oil revenue to pay for this is foolish at best. The state needs to build a diversified revenue base across-industry, similar to what rick perry did for Texas. Free college tuition for everyone is foolish in the extreme. It does nothing to promote excellence in academic and other achievements at the school level. Far better would be tuition-free merit scholarships to those who deserve it. UT Dallas, for example, has successfully implemented this plan to bring in a higher quality of students into their professional programs. A tuition-free program could be established for trade schools so that those who choose this and graduating from high school learns a trade for life.
3
Dear fellow Texan,
My thought is any exposure to college is good, even for one semester. However I like the idea of vocational education. Unfortunately those tend to be for profit operations and have a somewhat bad reputation for cheating students who pick the wrong schools. Trump University is one that comes to mind.
4
Everyone needs a college education or vocational training. Everyone. Even C students.
Gréât initiative, but it pits climate action against social justice which is a major error, and not sustainable.
3
@Fabrice
You would rather have the money go to tax cuts for the wealthy, as in other states with oil and gas revenues? You're posing a false dichotomy between aid for students from moneys that will be paid to the state and environmental responsibility.
This is an absolute no-brained. Use the temporary monies from oil to invest in long-term assets known as people with knowledge. The oil will soon be gone, but the quality of humans will remain to innovate new sources of growth. Look at the tragedy of Appalachia, where they short changed education as well as their future. Coal is dying and so are these states. Kudos to the Democrats of New Mexico.
65
@Dan Lake Why not give the money directly to the students - yes, vouchers - and let them choose the schools? How are nonprofit colleges, which must charge tuition so that they can pay teachers, support staff, and so on, going to compete with free state schools? An end result: state schools will have to expand, and we will have more government. Another end result: the jobs of the teachers, janitors, and other employees of the nonprofits will be lost. Is this a good result, when vouchers provide an easy way to reach the same goal?
"Carmen Lopez-Wilson....said the program would benefit about 55,000 students a year at an annual cost of $25 million to $35 million."
Wait a minute! $30 million a year is $545 per student.
5
The symbols , -, *, and / have a different meaning in government arithmetic. If you replace them with the "donor symbol", usually notated as "&$", it all adds up.
College tuition is already 2/3 free in NM because of the lottery scholarship, a program put in place in 1996 to try to achieve these aims, which wasn’t mentioned in the article. In the past few years state lottery revenues have been down, and, while I could be wrong, I believe that number is covering the difference after lottery scholarships and other public funding for college education.
We need to help our preadult citizens develop skills that enable them to fit productively in to adult society AND have satisfying/fulfilling lives.
That includes dealing with big life decisions, including leaving home, seeking business opportunities, “higher” education and marriage and parenthood.
All those aspiring to enter college should have been trained to understand the financial obligations that they will be taking on, and how they might manage to pay this back.
Even if someone is paying their way.
Even if tuition is free.
It is a basic element in becoming a responsible citizen, and might push our nation to develop a responsible electorate, who have learned to think through the issues that matter to them and vote on that basis.
3
@Stephen Rinsler Could not agree more! For most students (especially first generation college) big life decisions, including leaving home, seeking business opportunities, “higher” education and marriage and parenthood need to be discussed
I was born and raised in New Mexico and I really like this idea. However, I am concerned with how the state will pay for this when oil/gas hits a slump in the state-which it will, it’s a cyclic industry and eventually will be gone for good. New Mexico is an extremely poor state. Most of its residents will not be able to afford to foot the bill if higher taxes are the fall back plan if/when oil and gas revenues dry up.
30
Ask Alaska. They had to slash college funding and shutter several campuses because of budget shortfalls, leaving students stranded. I applaud the move but there has to a permanent way to fund it. There also should be a graduated income limit like NY has. Better off families should have to put some skin in the game.
20
@Logical thinker
This article doesn't really mention it but NM has had a Lottery Scholarship in place for decades.
The Lottery Scholarship is open to all NM high school graduates who go to an NM university full-time and maintain a 2.5 GPA.
Currently, the Lottery Scholarship covers about 60% of tuition, so I guess that this new program will supplement the existing one. If energy prices fall, they probably won't have a huge impact on the program since most of its funding already comes from elsewhere.
3
@northeast
Alaska slashed university funding so they could bring the permanent dividend back to earlier levels when oil revenues were higher. Rather than investing in the state’s future, the Governor decided to hand out the money in cash. It is resulting in a loss of intellectual capital from the state as UA faculty leave for greener pastures, perhaps even New Mexico.
5
Brilliant!
When NY announced its Excelsior scholarship the response was predictable. People who made just over the income limit were enraged that their taxes would pay for other kids’ education AND they would be stuck paying full tuition for their own kids. Their anger was pretty understandable. All to save the state a relatively small amount of money.
Don’t means test.
Means testing erodes support for programs immediately, when voters realize that they will be stuck paying for a program they can’t benefit from.
Social Security isn’t means tested. That’s why it’s resisted every effort to dismantle it.
FDR understood that to make a program universally popular its benefits had to be universal too.
Democrats should try to remember this pretty obvious lesson.
Means testing is a foolish idea ab initio.
149
@Objectively Subjective Totally agree. Have read many articles about states providing some form of "free college," but this is the first time it dawned on me: the truly rich likely won't use it anyway: it's not prestigious enough, no status-signalling, so including them won't "waste" scarce tax dollars.
And, as the middle class shrinks due to stagnant wages and and increased taxes* (bc the rich and corporations engage in legal and illegal tax evasion), those folks just above any income limit have a legitimate complaint.
*In Nebraska, our GOP guvnrers would never DREAM of raising the tax rates on income. High local property taxes are citizens' main concern. Meanwhile, state biz giveaways - I mean, biz incentives to "create jobs" - take our local property and sales tax revenue without our permission. Add in misused local tax increment financing that also siphons off property taxes from schools, roads, libraries, parks, etc. (and puts it in the pocket of real estate developers). So our property taxes go up and up.
State support for our state colleges and universities goes down (can't increase income tax rates on folks like Warren Buffet and our billionaire guvner, ya know), so tuition goes up. Folks struggling to stay in the middle class and folks trying to escape poverty all need a break!
I'll put away my soapbox now.
19
Could not agree more. Means testing is the fastest way to breed opposition to social welfare programs.
8
@LHSNana You perfectly described your Nebraska governor. Thank you!
4
What about everyone else who has already sacrificed for years to pay for college? That is the fundamental problem with all of these free tuition schemes. Why aren't any including provisions for student loan debt relief? Yes, a more educated workforce benefits society as a whole. But picking winners in advance sets an ugly precedent.
6
@Andy
We can never move forward by looking backward. If something is beneficial to society should we not do it because it wasn't done from the beginning?
We are so individualistic in America that we can't get anything done. We are so busy thinking of "me" that we can't think about "us".
How far back do you want to go? Do we need to make amends for what our grandparents paid for college?
My family paid the full freight to send my sons to college. That doesn't mean that everyone in the future needs to do the same just to be fair to me.
33
@Andy
You can't go back and retroactively give it to those that were born too soon. This encourages young people to move up the ladder for now. I'm also assuming that older people can apply. My mother went back to the University of Houston when I went to Middle school and graduated 5 years later with a degree in Journalism.
8
@Andy, so you’re saying if no one got free tuition in the past, no one should get it in the future? Too unfair? With that logic, nothing can ever change for the better. It’s gotta start somewhere.
Those who were stuck paying in the past will, hopefully, eventually benefit from the “all boats get raised by a rising tide” philosophy. I know it’s not money, but it’s an advancing society, and it’s worth it.
6
That’s nice. Will Trump and his administration attempt to prevent New Mexico from doing this? That would be of a piece with everything else he has done; destroy, tear down and undo everything good.
87
@KMC Unnecessary snarky comment; many states offer similar policies. This isn't about Trump!
1
@Ma
No state has similar policies than the one planned for New Mexico. The article lists major differences.
A number of states follow California's example and have regulations limiting car exhaust but Trump is set on doing away with them (could it be because when exhaust on your car is engineered to be limited, you end up using less gas? So of course oil corporations dont like this)
Similarly, student loans are a huge business as they get broken up and sold and sold again. This results is a generation saddled with loans bigger than a mortgage so that now many have to give up on the American Dream of house and a family and not worrying where their next meal will come from.
Corporation in the business of loaning money and playing around with interests would make much less profit if college tuition was eliminated. Thus given Trump's dedication to oil corporations interests and bankers it might be logical to suspect he would oppose the New Mexico law.
Student loans are said to be the factor driving the coming Great Recession as Trump is eliminating the regulations that got us out of the 2008 recession.
The 2008 Recession was caused by speculation with mortgages being bought and sold and cut into smaller segments. Obama got us out of it by enacting regulations preventing Wall Street from literally being a gamblers' den where the gamblers used other people's money. Those regulations and laws had been in place since they got us out of the Great Depression.
1
YES! We don't charge tuition for public high school, so why should we charge tuition for public colleges? A college education today is as important as a high school education was when the system of public high schools developed. Educating our young people is a PUBLIC GOOD that benefits society as a whole. It is a public good just like elementary and high schools, roads, the power grid, clean air and water, police and fire services, the military, etc. As a public good, college tuition should be funded through TAX DOLLARS rather than tuition.
168
@The Judge You forgot healthcare. And is all payable as long as you don't elect a GOP member, whose first act would be to rob the treasury.
5
@The Judge
Exactly correct. These are our tax dollars, and they should be used for things that benefit us directly. Like having an educated populace, roads, police, healthcare, etc.
All things the GOP wants to gut or privatize so their patrons can profit from what should be basic public services.
It's OUR money.
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@The Judge The majority of students graduating HS are not academically inclined. Know you hate hearing that, but just sending kids to free college doesn't change that truth. We'd be better off with technical schools that start in HS, like we used to have. Also, 25% of kids entering public schools require remedial classes as they cannot do basic math, reading, or both. Fact.
Lastly, 20-25% drop out after one year, and no, it's not just minorities or poor - it's across the board. Why? Because they shouldn't have gone in the first place. College is for higher learning; people that are academically inclined and have worked hard through K-12. It is NOT a 'right.'
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Free college is fine but not if they don't require students to achieve reasonable grades before admission. Just as important is controlling costs. There is no reasonable justification for the cost of college education. Create a budget. See how much colleges spend per student and consider how you would spend that money. Where does the money go. NYC spends over $32,000 per student per year for public school education. That's a million dollars a year for a class of 33 children. Even with those expenditures, half of the children are not proficient in Math or English.
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