Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed a bill Tuesday, April 8 to increase funding for eligible graduate students, allowing them to now receive 100% of tuition and fees. The now-law will widen the scope of eligibility and the amount awarded to graduate students via the Graduate Scholarship Act. The Graduate Scholarship was created by the New Mexico State Legislature with the New Mexico Higher Education Department to increase graduate enrollment of underrepresented groups at public post-secondary institutions, according to University of New Mexico Graduate Studies. 

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed a bill Tuesday, April 8 to increase funding for eligible graduate students, allowing them to now receive 100% of tuition and fees.

The now-law will widen the scope of eligibility and the amount awarded to graduate students via the Graduate Scholarship Act.

The Graduate Scholarship was created by the New Mexico State Legislature with the New Mexico Higher Education Department to increase graduate enrollment of underrepresented groups at public post-secondary institutions, according to University of New Mexico Graduate Studies.

Previously, the GSA awarded $7,200 per year for tuition and fees to eligible graduate students, leaving some paying hundreds of dollars out of pocket to make up the difference, according to UNM Dean of Graduate Studies Maria Lane, based on an average cost of $4,000 per semester. The language is now updated to read “one hundred percent of tuition and fees.”

Furthermore, a past requirement for eligibility was enrollment in an assistantship program — think research and teaching assistants — which typically included coverage of tuition. But now, that requirement can be subverted by maintaining a 3.0 GPA if an assistantship or work study isn’t manageable.