The New Mexico Opportunity Scholarship: Expanding Access to Higher Education 

The Opportunity Scholarship will restore the initial promise of the Lottery Scholarship, enabling tuition-free college for 55,000 students across the state. By supplementing the Lottery Scholarship with the Opportunity Scholarship, students will pay no tuition or fees at any of the state’s 29 public institutions of higher education, where enrollment will subsequently increase. The stage will be set for big economic benefits in the future, including better employment opportunities, higher overall incomes, and a stronger workforce for New Mexico. That’s why the Opportunity Scholarship matters.

By the numbers:

• Lottery Scholarship recipients are three times more likely to receive a degree
• Lottery Scholarship students with four or more semesters have a 70 percent degree completion rate
• Lottery Scholarship students with seven or more semesters have a 95 percent degree completion rate
• In general, degree completion rates are 47% higher for students who received the Lottery Scholarship
• As the gap in the Lottery Scholarship tuition coverage has widened, schools like New Mexico Tech have seen a direct correlation in a decrease in enrollment

Communities and students across the state support the New Mexico Opportunity Scholarship: