NM Gov Michelle Lujan Grisham signs SB 140 at WNMU 030422

Photos and article Courtesy of WNMU

Today, March 4, 2022, at Western New Mexico University, New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed Senate Bill 140, the Opportunity Scholarship Act, which expands tuition-free higher education to all New Mexicans.

Below are comments from Opportunity Scholarship Recipients at Western New Mexico University

Speaker: Raquel Parga
Grant County native Raquel Parga is finishing up a forest-wildlife degree at Western New Mexico University while raising her two-year-old son. “I’ve overcome some obstacles in my life but I’m still going strong with my degree,” she said.

Before receiving the Opportunity Scholarship this past fall, she had taken out loans each semester. “I was always short about $600,” she said. “On top of worrying about how I’m doing in my classes, there was stress over how to afford each class.”

Parga proactively set aside what she earned at her on-campus job in preparation for paying off student loans after graduation. “When I found out about the Opportunity Scholarship, it was kind of a happy moment because I had more support for school. I didn’t have such a financial burden,” she said. “Thank you for making the journey of a college student a little bit easier.”

She said, while some chose to put off college while they raise a family, earning her degree is a priority for her now. “Education will take you a long, long way. I want to show my son and my youngest sisters in the family that it will pay off in the end.”

She hopes to change the way people see the environment and play a role in conserving and managing natural resources. “It’s important to have that diversity of education inside of a community. For a mining community, you can go into environmental science or the medical field,” she said, noting that her grandfather was a truck driver for the local mines.

Parga hopes to work with the U.S. Forest Service after graduation and, in preparation, conducted eco-monitoring for Heart of the Gila as part of her senior practicum last summer. Being in the field — testing the waters for PH levels, dissolved oxygen, dissolved solids and more — has opened her eyes to how much of the hands-on and classroom work she does at WNMU applies in the real world.

Recipient: Evangeline Dominguez
Evangeline Dominguez began her education at Western New Mexico University 20 years ago, left when she started a family, and returned after spending the past two decades raising five children. Now pursuing an associate degree in early childhood education with the aim to work toward a bachelor’s, she said. “I came back to finish what I started.”

Dominguez works as a Pre-K educational assistant at Bayard Elementary School and is taking six credit hours at WNMU this spring. She said she would not be enrolled if it weren’t for the New Mexico Opportunity Scholarship. “I did not withdraw correctly 20 years ago. It affected my financial aid,” she said. “I was a kid, but withdrawing incorrectly came back to haunt me. Without the Opportunity Scholarship, it’d be easy to say, ‘I’m done.’”

The financial support, combined with the ability to participate in classes online, makes college feasible for her. “I’m able to work a full-time job and take care of my kids at home, because I do still have children at home,” Dominguez said. “I don’t know how I’d be able to do that otherwise.”

Despite having raised her own family, Dominguez said WNMU has given her an understanding of child development and the science behind young children’s learning processes. “It’s different to really know,” she said.

Dominguez said the Opportunity Scholarship can help others who aspire to earn a degree later in life. “I want them to know that you can go back no matter how old.”

Recipient: Maria Saenz
A single mother of two college students, Maria Saenz is a freshman student working on her prerequisites for the Western New Mexico University School of Nursing program while her children attend NMSU. “I always pushed my kids so hard. I want to push myself too,” she said. “I’m proud of my kids. I want them to be proud of me.”

Saenz enrolled at WNMU – Deming after getting divorced and took just one or two classes a time at first. But she had already noticed her vision becoming a reality. “I want my kids to see that hard work and grit can get you to surpass dreams,” she said.

“My ex-husband never supported me when I said I wanted to go back to school,” Saenz said. But after completing her FAFSA, she was notified that she would be supported in her educational journey through the New Mexico Opportunity Scholarship. “I have to pay my kids’ rent and pay for my school, so when I got it, it was very nice for me. The Opportunity Scholarship helps me to finish sooner, because I can take more classes,” she said.

Recipient: Jaedyn Arellano
Jaedyn Arellano has a younger brother with special needs. “I have seen the services he has been provided, and I want to become a physical therapist and offer similar help to others,” she said.

Arellano is a senior in both the kinesiology and rehabilitation services programs at Western New Mexico University. “I chose to attend WNMU because it’s affordable and close by my family,” said the Bayard native.

Receiving the Opportunity Scholarship is a relief for Arellano, who said she didn’t know about it until being awarded the support, which she uses to supplement what she earns at her on-campus student-worker job and to buy extra course materials.

“I’m taking labs so my lab fees were high, and the books I needed were expensive. I probably wouldn’t have bought my books. I have gone without books. It’s terrible. It’s like being lost in the class,” she said. “This scholarship has given me the opportunity to pursue my dreams, because it covers costs I might not be able to afford on my own.”

For nearly 130 years, Western New Mexico University has served the people in its region as a comprehensive, rural, public body. As a Hispanic-Serving Institution and the state’s only public Applied Liberal Arts and Sciences university, WNMU is committed to developing cross-cultural opportunities that encourage people to explore new experiences. The university’s student body represents every segment of southwest New Mexico’s diverse population.