New Mexico Register / Volume XXIX,
Issue 14 / July 24, 2018
This
is an amendment to 5.7.20 NMAC, Sections 7, 10 and 11, effective 7/24/2018.
5.7.20.7 DEFINITIONS:
A. “Academic year” means any consecutive
period of two semesters (or three semesters for accelerated programs), three
quarters or other comparable units commencing with the fall term each year.
B. “Accelerated program” means one in
which a summer semester is a program requirement and not a student choice; a
cohort that requires sequence of courses taken in summer semester.
C. “Community college” means a branch
community college of a four-year state educational institution, a two-year
state educational institution or a community college or technical and
vocational institute established pursuant to Chapter 21, Article 13 or 16 NMSA
1978, respectively.
D. “Comprehensive institution” means
eastern New Mexico university, New Mexico Highlands university, northern New
Mexico college or western New Mexico university.
E. “Consortium” means a written agreement
between a home institution and one or more host institutions for consideration
of combined enrollment for eligibility:
(1) home institution
is the institution where the student is enrolled in a degree or certificate
seeking program and is receiving lottery scholarship funds;
(2) host
institution is the secondary institution where the student is taking part of
their program requirements.
F. “Department” means the New Mexico
higher education department (NMHED).
G. “Full-time” means 15 or more credit
hours completed each program semester of the regular academic year at a
research institution or comprehensive institution; or 12 or more credit hours completed
for each program semester at community colleges; or through a consortium
agreement between the home and host institutions. For students enrolled through a consortium
agreement the minimum credit hour eligibility requirement shall be based on the
student’s home institution. Qualified
students in their graduating semester are only required to take the number of
credit hours required to graduate.
H. “GPA” means grade point average.
I. “Legislative lottery scholarship” means
a scholarship awarded from proceeds of the New Mexico lottery tuition fund, to
defray all or part of the cost of tuition.
J. “Non-enrollment” means a student is not
enrolled in a public post-secondary educational institution.
K. “Probation” means a period of time that
a student fails to meet continuing eligibility for exceptional mitigating
circumstances as determined by the lead financial aid officer at the
institution; as described in Subsection C of 5.7.20.8 NMAC.
L. “Program semesters” means those
semesters for which a qualified student may receive a tuition scholarship and
excludes the first semester of attendance at a public post-secondary
educational institution.
M. “Public post-secondary educational
institution” means a research
or comprehensive institution, as defined in Article XII, Section 11 of the New
Mexico constitution, and branch community colleges or community college or
technical and vocational institute as defined by Section 21-13, 14 and 16 NMSA
1978.
N. “Research institution” means New Mexico
institute of mining and technology, New Mexico state university and the
university of New Mexico.
O. “Qualified student” means a full-time student who completed high
school at a public or accredited private New Mexico high school, graduated from
a public or accredited private New Mexico high school or who received a high
school equivalency credential while maintaining residency in New Mexico and who
either:
(1) within
16 months of graduation or receipt of a high school equivalency credential, was
accepted for entrance to and attended a public post-secondary educational
institution without having previously enrolled at a non-qualifying
postsecondary institution; or
(2) within
four months of graduation or receipt of a high school equivalency credential,
began service in the United States armed forces and within 16 months of
completion of honorable service or medical discharge from the service, attended
a public post-secondary educational institution without having previously
enrolled at a non-qualifying postsecondary institution; and
(3) successfully
completed the first semester at a public post-secondary educational institution
with a grade point average of 2.5 or higher on a 4.0 scale during the first
semester of full time enrollment.
[R] P. “Summer semester” means a semester
equal to fall and spring semester in duration and intensity that is required as
part of an accelerated program.
[S] Q. “Tuition scholarship” means the
scholarship that provides tuition assistance per semester for qualified
students.
[5.7.20.7 NMAC - Rp, 5.7.20.7 NMAC,
08/15/2014; A/E, 8/15/2014; A, 11/15/2016; A, 10/31/2017; A, 7/24/2018]
5.7.20.10 AMOUNT OF SCHOLARSHIP:
A. To
the extent that funds are made available from the fund, the board of regents or
governing bodies of public postsecondary educational institutions shall award
tuition scholarship in department approved amounts to qualified students.
B. The
method the department will use for calculating the tuition scholarship is as
follows:
(1) estimate
the total amount available in the lottery tuition fund, based on past lottery
fund transfers, current year balances, and additional funds made available
through legislation;
(2) estimate
the number of lottery scholarship recipients for each institution, based on
department endorsed institutional projections;
(3) calculate
the [un-weighted average] tuition scholarship for each sector
(research, comprehensive, and community college) in accordance with [2016
Bill Text NM S.B. 280] 2018 Bill Text NM S.B. 140;
(4) calculate
the total amount needed to pay full [average] tuition to all estimated
recipients;
(5) compute
[the uniform percentage of the sector average tuition rates that can be paid
that keeps the fund solvent and ensures that the fund will not be overspent]
an award for each scholarship
recipient distributed in amounts as follows:
(a) one thousand five hundred dollars
($1,500) per scholarship per program semester for a student enrolled at a
research institution;
(b) one thousand twenty dollars ($1,020)
per scholarship per program semester for a student enrolled at a comprehensive
institution; and
(c) three hundred eighty dollars ($380)
per scholarship per program semester for a student enrolled at a community
college;
(6) [determine
the maximum award per recipient for each institution (uniform percentage times
average sector tuition for the sector of each institution)]; If the total amount available
pursuant to Paragraph (3) of Subsection B of 5.7.20.10 NMAC is less than the
amount calculated in Paragraph (5) of Subsection B of 5.7.20.10 NMAC, the
department shall decrease the scholarship award amounts in a manner that
maintains the distribution in the same proportions as provided in Paragraph (5)
of Subsection B of 5.7.20.10 NMAC. If
the total amount available pursuant to Paragraph (3) of Subsection B of 5.7.20.10
NMAC is more than the amount calculated in Paragraph (5) of Subsection B of
5.7.20.10 NMAC, the department shall increase the scholarship award amounts in
a manner that maintains the distribution in the same proportions as provided in
Paragraph (5) of Subsection B of 5.7.20.10 NMAC.
(7) notify
institutions.
C. In
no case shall a student receive scholarship awards exceeding the total amount
of tuition charged.
D. Qualified
students in their graduating semester shall receive a tuition scholarship
proportional to the number of credit hours required to graduate.
[5.7.20.10 NMAC - Rp, 5.7.20.10 NMAC,
08/15/2014; A, 11/15/2016; A, 10/31/2017; A, 7/24/2018]
5.7.20.11 ADMINISTRATION OF THE legislative
lottery SCHOLARSHIP:
A. Eligible
post-secondary educational institutions shall:
(1) notify
students of their possible eligibility, during their first regular semester of
enrollment including transfer students who had the legislative lottery
scholarship at previous institutions;
(2) designate
their institution’s lead financial aid officer to be responsible for
determining initial and continuing student eligibility for the legislative
lottery scholarship under the terms of these rules and regulations;
(3) maintain
a listing of each participating student to include, but not be limited to:
(a) social
security number as appropriate;
(b) cumulative
GPA and completed enrollment hours in prior semesters;
(c) proof
of initial and continuing enrollment;
(d) award
semester; and
(e) other
data fields deemed important by the department;
(4) draw-down files
should be submitted to the department for eligible students as defined in
5.7.20.10 NMAC per semester; all fiscal year draw-downs shall be for eligible
students enrolled during the same fiscal year;
(5) for
students that satisfied the first semester eligibility requirements and seek
continuing eligibility consideration, use professional judgment to determine
that exceptional mitigating circumstances beyond the students control, for
which documentation exists in the student’s file; the institutions shall defer
to their institutional satisfactory academic progress policy when considering
circumstances which include, but are not limited to, consideration for falling
below the cumulative GPA requirement or successfully maintain full time
enrollment as defined in Subsection [E] G of 5.7.20.7 NMAC;
(6) provide
to the department by April 15 each year the projected enrollment and tuition
rates for the following academic year for their appropriate institution as
follows: comprehensive, research institution in their second through eighth
program semester including qualified students in their fifth through eighth program
semesters who transferred from a community college; projected enrollment at
each community college at each community college in their second through fourth
program semesters;
(7) publish
the probation policy as defined in Subsection C of 5.7.20.8 NMAC;
(8) encourage
consortium agreements, as defined in the code of federal regulations, 34 CFR
6685, in order to facilitate the enrollment of students and to facilitate the
student’s participation in this program;
(9) ensure
that all available state scholarships including merit based three percent
scholarship and New Mexico scholars are awarded before granting legislative
lottery scholarships; the intent of this provision is that tuition costs shall
be paid first for those students eligible for merit-based aid packages funded
by three percent scholarships; in those instances when tuition is not fully
covered by the merit-based aid package, said student is eligible for the
tuition cost differential to be funded by the legislative lottery scholarship
program; nothing in this section requires a public postsecondary educational institution
to award a scholarship inconsistent with the criteria established or such
scholarship; refer to Subsection G of 5.7.20.9 NMAC for additional provisions;
B. The
department shall:
(1) determine
[a uniform percentage of the average of in-state tuition costs by sector by
which to calculate tuition scholarships] the scholarship award pursuant
to the provisions of 5.7.20.10 NMAC; all eligible institutions will be notified
prior to June 1 annually;
(2) conduct
audits to ascertain compliance with rules and regulations, if, during the audit
process, evidence indicates that a student should not have received a
legislative lottery scholarship, the department will provide guidance to the
institutions for appropriate action;
(3) make
available to the legislative finance committee and department of finance and
administration, by November 1, the following information:
(a) the
status of the fund;
(b) tuition
scholarship program participation data aggregated for each public postsecondary
education institution to show:
(i) the
number of qualified students who received tuition scholarships and in the prior
12 month period;
(ii) the
total number of qualified students enrolled in the prior 12-month period;
(iii) the
amount of tuition scholarships funded by semester and the amount of tuition
costs that were not offset by the tuition scholarship by semester; and
(iv) the
number of qualified students who graduated with a degree and, for each
qualified student, the number of consecutive semesters and nonconsecutive
semesters attended prior to graduation.
[5.7.20.11 NMAC - Rp, 5.7.20.11 NMAC,
08/15/2014; A/E, 8/15/2014; A, 11/15/2016; A, 10/31/2017; A, 7/24/2018]