Omniac Attack!

I agree! The NM Lottery Scholarship is given too easily and students are grossly underprepared for college-level work, even at colleges with extremely low admissions standards.  
It is a disservice to the student to let them go to college unprepared, and setting the bar so low is what the scholarship does. Imagine getting there and finding how difficult it really is. Lots of students are so discouraged they never return after failing that first year. 
I think raising the Lottery Scholarship requirements will force high school students and teachers to pay more attention to college preparation and help more students be actually ready for college when they arrive.

its really a interesting discussion

The Lottery Scholarship might be givin to easily but it helps a lot when you do not have money to throw around like most people. I maintain a 3.6 and will not be able to afford college without the Lottery.

@Ben: Totally! You're exactly the type of student that the Lottery is designed for. You sound as though you value the opportunity that the Lottery gives you and you certainly are working to maintain it.  
 
All we're advocating here is to raise the standards of the Lottery so that students no longer see it as automatic, but instead as something they can work towards and value.

What Derrick said reflects my belief. I certainly do not want to deny this Lottery-generated money to students who need it in order to attend. What I advocate is that the students are better prepared to succeed once they get to college. I think raising the requirements for qualification may help in that regard, by making some students actually work toward a goal to attain the scholarship in the first place. Something earned is more likely to be treasured. 

Just for informational purposes. You have to attend college for one semester before the lottery scholarship starts helping to pay for college. It is set up this way so that people that are not able to pass college level classes leave before they see a dime. You also have to attend full-time, and pass every class, you are not allowed to fail classes, or you lose your scholarship. Another thing people need to remember, is that the lottery scholarship actually provides opportunities to students who have been failed somewhat by the public education system in NM, and allows students access to college, by the scholarship funding including remedial classes to bring students up to the level required for completing a degree. I the wife of a disabled veteran and a mom, who got her GED with honors at the age of 29, I am currently in my junior year at NMSU in Las Cruces, my math was well below college level, and I receive the lottery scholarship. My GPA is currently 3.84, I am on track tp graduate, but according to a lot of people I was not ready for college, I left high school when I was 16, without the lottery scholarship available, I would not be on track to teach my child the importance of education, which is a lesson no-one ever taught me.

you guys are dumb, it's not the sholarship its the students. it's their choice to study for college and prepare themselves for their future. But instead they decide to be very lazy. the students have it in them but choose not to do anything. So dont blame the sholarship blame the students. It's like blaming the teacher's for not educating your kids instead blame the parents for letting them run around and do whatever they want to do. Thats all i have to say about that.

Mathew: 
 
You are completely correct that It's up to the student to make the grades needed to keep their scholarships. However people will only do what systems tell them they need to do. With that in mind, would it not be better for a system to enforce a need for excellence instead of a need for mediocrity?

I have to disagree.  
 
1)You say, "The NM Lottery Scholarship encourages students to slack off in high school." This statement assumes that high school students, in general, ARE thinking about their future and ARE disciplined enough to choose hard work over pleasure, given the choice and incentive. Sorry, but as a former high school student, this is generally not true. (And yes, I did earn an academic scholarship to college and I did graduate.) I think those high school students who care and are willing and able to succeed will generally do so because they are more self-motivated, or because of much more immediate stimuli, such as high expectations from teachers or parents, or a realistic expectation of consequences from failure. 
 
2) You say, " The NM Lottery Scholarship does not help low-income students succeed in college." You're RIGHT, because the purpose of a scholarship is NOT to help low-income students succeed. It's to allow *hard-working students* the *opportunity* to attend college. Need-based financial aid allows that opportunity specifically for low-income students. It fulfills a different purpose from a scholarship, but neither attempts to "help them succeed". That's the *student's* job once the door is opened for them. 
 
Then you mention that "The low-income students only receive the scholarship half as often as more affluent students, and those low-income students who do receive it lose it twice as often." What are you saying here? Are the low-income students not receiving the scholarship as often (and then losing it more often) because they are not getting good enough grades to qualify? So what is your suggestion? Should the required GPA be LOWERED to accommodate these low achievers? (A bad idea, in my opinion - talk about rewarding mediocrity!) No, in fact, you go on to say it should be RAISED! That would mean, according to your argument, that even LESS low-income students would be eligible. Make up your mind! Then you talk about the HOPE scholarship and how higher requirements make for less people being eligible, and more retention. That's true, because you're ruling out all but the highest achievers, whether by natural academic gift or hard work. And a major difference that you fail to mention is that, if I'm correct, the HOPE scholarship requires a *high school* GPA of 3.0 for eligibility as well as a college GPA of 3.0 to maintain it. This means a student who intends to get a GA HOPE scholarship knows as he's going along if he is on track to qualify. (By the way, you mention that "between 25% and 35% of New Mexico high school graduates will lose the Lottery scholarship after their first semester of college", but a student is not even *eligible* for the scholarship until they have completed one semester with a cumulative GPA of 2.5.) 
 
3) I'm not even sure how to address your assertion that "It keeps our best students in New Mexico." Isn't that the goal of state schools? Maybe you should lobby for them to stop offering in-state tuition, or better yet (according to this line of thinking), maybe we could impose a special tuition tax on NM residents only to flush them out and bring in new blood. (SERIOUSLY???) Let's think about this: Since the Lottery scholarship makes it easy for NM residents to get a college degree with some hard work, maybe we could let them leave AFTER college. I agree with the whole stagnation thing, but those who want to leave and can afford to do so will.  
 
I am all for raising the bar, but let's be realistic about it: It will provide more incentive for those few who are academically gifted or motivated, and it will disincentivize (is that a word) those who know that they can't hope to maintain a 3.0 in college. A few steps in the right direction might be helpful: Require the student to earn a 2.5 in high school to qualify at the beginning of college (with the ability to requalify after a semester of college for those who don't meet the high school requirement), and teach a course in high school on Life Preparation. In it, students would learn about the cost of living (so flipping burgers at BK won't pay for that nice car and apartment you have planned), budgeting and balancing a checkbook, planning for college (taking the ACT or SAT, admission requirements, and paying for college - scholarships, financial aid, grants, etc.), and other needed information and skills that most of our high schools are NOT teaching kids. Maybe if they saw what's really out there waiting for them, they'd pay more attention to their grades.

What is the maximum award for Fall and spring?

Honestly, from most of the stuff I looked up, the only institution that offer really great financial aid to great students from out of state are the highly ranked IVY league and other liberal arts colleges that have eliminated loans. Basically, the ones that if you get in, you win. I don't think there is a big problem with having New Mexico students stay in their own state as long as the state has the right program for them. Then I would think the second best thing for them to do is look around at other schools bordering New Mexico to see which offer discounted tuition for bordering states.

Jen Lanam's post is spot on. Kapchinsky needs to think about his arguments critically. I liken the integrity of this article's arguments to that of John Edwards, that is to say, lacking.

Whoever said this is bad for students or it encourages laziness is an imbecile. What is incredible is that the cost of ONE SINGLE STEALTH BOMBER will pay for the education of EVERY NM CHILD from 1st grade to 4 years of college and a 1% increase in taxes for the 400 wealthiest Americans will pay for the education of OUR ENTIRE GENERATION! Education is not bad for ANYONE and different students have different abilities, life circumstances and limitations - cut these kids a break and stop being so self righteous! MY GOD! OPEN YOUR EYES! Without FREE education, we will continue to be the second rate country we have become.