54th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2019

RELATING TO HIGHER EDUCATION; PROVIDING FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF A FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE MODEL FOR COMMUNITY COLLEGES AND TECHNICAL AND VOCATIONAL INSTITUTES; MAKING AN APPROPRIATION.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:

SECTION 1. A new section of the Community College Act is enacted to read:

"[NEW MATERIAL] PROMISE SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM--MODEL.--

A. Santa Fe community college shall develop, implement and evaluate a model for a "promise scholarship" program that provides free tuition, fees and instructional materials and mentoring and counseling for students in need of financial assistance who attend a community college or technical and vocational institute in New Mexico.

B. Full-time students eligible for a promise scholarship are those that:

(1) have been residents of the state for at least one year;

(2) are in need of financial assistance; and

(3) are registered for at least twelve credit hours in one of the college's associate degree programs during a regular semester and at least six credit hours during the summer semester.

C. The promise scholarship is a per-semester scholarship, and the student must maintain a 2.5 grade point average on a 4.0 point scale and register for at least twelve credit hours per regular semester and at least six credit hours per summer semester to continue to receive the scholarship. The scholarship shall be coupled with academic counseling and mentoring as needed by promise students.

D. Santa Fe community college shall develop promise scholarship student qualifications, application procedures and other processes to implement the model program. The model shall be based on a maximum cohort of one hundred students who receive promise scholarships.

E. The model shall include one- and two-year post-graduation tracking data on promise scholarship students to determine if promise scholarship students continued on to receive a higher degree or are employed in their fields of study.

F. Santa Fe community college shall provide an initiation report and annual reports for the two years of implementation and a final report two years after the cohort's graduation from the community college on post-graduation success of the cohort."

SECTION 2. APPROPRIATION.--Six hundred fifty thousand dollars ($650,000) is appropriated from the general fund to the higher education department for expenditure in fiscal years 2020 and 2021 for Santa Fe community college to develop and implement a promise scholarship model that can be used statewide. Any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of fiscal year 2021 shall revert to the general fund.