A JOINT MEMORIAL

REQUESTING THE NEW MEXICO LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL TO NAME A LOTTERY SCHOLARSHIP STUDY COMMITTEE.

     WHEREAS, the lottery tuition scholarship program has been a major success in New Mexico, allowing over thirty-two thousand young residents of the state to achieve their dream of higher education and allowing more New Mexico high school graduates to stay in the state for higher education and then employment; and

     WHEREAS, the program serves New Mexico's publicly funded colleges and universities by increasing enrollment and revenue attributed to tuition; and

     WHEREAS, the program also reduces the burden of the state's taxpayers to fund overall public higher education by providing another revenue stream for public colleges and universities; and

     WHEREAS, the program currently provides tuition assistance to recent high school graduates and veterans who enlisted in the armed services after graduation and are now returning to New Mexico; and

     WHEREAS, the scholarship program is based on students' academic merit, requiring that students maintain a 2.5 grade point average with a course load of at least twelve credit hours; and

     WHEREAS, at least twelve bills have been introduced this year for the legislature to change the lottery tuition scholarship program, some of which expand the purpose of the scholarship from tuition to other expenses, some of which propose changing the program from a merit program to a

needs-based program and some of which propose opening the program to more people and types of institutions; and

     WHEREAS, arguably, that many proposals on a single topic may mean that there is not yet a consensus in the legislature on how the program should be designed;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the New Mexico legislative council be requested to appoint an interim legislative committee to study the lottery tuition scholarship program and make recommendations to the legislative council by December 15, 2005; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be transmitted to the co-chairs of the New Mexico legislative council.