A scholarship may be awarded to a New Mexico high school graduate who:

A. is a resident of New Mexico as determined by the definition of residency for tuition purposes as established by the department;

B. will graduate or has graduated from a New Mexico high school and who enrolls in an eligible institution by the end of the graduate's twenty-first birthday;

C. has met the admission requirements and is accepted for enrollment as a full-time undergraduate student at an eligible institution;

D. has maintained a level of performance in high school reflected by an overall score of at least twenty-five on the American college test or SAT equivalent or a high school class rank in the top five percent of the student's high school graduating class in either the student's junior or senior year;

E. has a total combined family income of no more than sixty thousand dollars ($60,000) per year adjusted annually on January 1 to reflect any change from the previous year's then-current consumer price index for all urban consumers published by the bureau of labor statistics of the United States department of labor in either of the calendar years ending within the student's junior or senior years in high school or in the case of a student whose immediate family has more than one family member enrolled full time in an eligible institution of post-secondary education, a total combined family income of no more than an amount as determined by the department to be equivalent to a sixty-thousand dollar ($60,000) total combined family income;

F. has complied with all the rules adopted by the department for award of the scholarship and the provisions regarding the administration of scholarships adopted pursuant to the New Mexico Scholars Act; and

G. is a citizen of the United States or has a permanent resident visa.

History: Laws 1989, ch. 212, § 5; 1991, ch. 262, § 18; 2013, ch. 171, § 4.

The 2013 amendment, effective July 1, 2013, increased the family income for eligibility for the Scholars Act scholarships; in Subsection A, after "by the", deleted "commission" and added "department"; in Subsection E, after "income of no more than", deleted "thirty thousand dollars ($30,000)" and added "sixty thousand dollars ($60,000)", after "per year", added "adjusted annually on January 1 to reflect any change from the previous year's then-current consumer price index for all urban consumers published by the bureau of labor statistics of the United States department of labor", after "by the", deleted "commission" and added "department", and after "equivalent to a", deleted "thirty thousand dollars ($30,000)" and added "sixty thousand dollars ($60,000)"; and in Subsection F, after "rules", deleted "and regulations" and after "by the", deleted "commission" and added "department".

The 1991 amendment, effective June 14, 1991, rewrote Subsection B which read "will graduate from a New Mexico high school the year in which the scholarship is awarded"; added "in either the student's junior or senior year" at the end of Subsection D; and added the language beginning "in either of the calendar years" at the end of Subsection E.