New Mexico reduces lottery scholarships

New Mexico is reducing college scholarships linked to state lottery proceeds from 90 percent of tuition to 60 percent for in-state students for the coming school year.

Higher Education Secretary Barbara Damron on Wednesday announced the changes in lottery-based scholarships. Roughly 26,000 students at universities, four-year colleges and two-year community colleges receive the assistance.

Liquor excise tax revenues are being phased out after bolstering scholarship funding in recent years, as the demand for financial aid outpaced revenues from lottery sales.

State lawmakers who oversee funding of the lottery scholarships have been left with few other options for sustaining the scholarships that once paid for 100 percent of in-state tuition.

With the change, tuition assistance for students at New Mexico’s three research universities is decreasing by more than $700 to $1,721 in the fall.