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Category: Editorials Editorials
Published: 05 June 2017 05 June 2017

For comprehensive colleges and universities (Western, Eastern New Mexico, New Mexico Highlands and Northern New Mexico) the Lottery Scholarship will pay $1,169 toward tuition, fees are not covered. The amount paid by the Lottery Scholarship is based on 60% of the overall average tuition of all comprehensive colleges and universities.

Here is how it affects the various schools:

School.....................Tuition............Not Covered by Scholarship..........Percent of tuition covered
WNMU.................$2,209.01.......................$1,040.00..........................................53%
ENMU...................$1,830.48............................$661.48........................................64%
NNMC...................$1,630.20............................$461.20........................................72%
NMHU...................$2,124.00............................$955.00........................................55%

The total amount paid by a student getting the Lottery Scholarship (reduced tuition plus fees):

School Total Paid by Student
WNMU.............................$2,243.13
ENMU...............................$1,789.84
NNMC...............................$1,213.60
NMHU...............................$1,733.20

From the above, you see that not every school has 60% of the tuition covered some get more and some get less because it's based on the average tuition of all schools. Since Western has the highest tuition its students on the Lottery Scholarship need to pay more than any of the other schools.

However, it appears that this reduction of the Lottery Scholarship will have less effect on Western because Western has only about 150 students on the Lottery Scholarship, about 7% of the undergraduates, the lowest in the state.

Alfred Milligan
Silver City, NM