NM Lottery & Opportunity Scholarships 

New Mexico Lottery Scholarship 

• Needs to be full time (15 credits for university & 12 credits for community college)

  • There can be an exception for a student who is in special education. Please speak with the financial aid office at either the university or community college you plan on attending.

• Student who enrolls out of state or into a instate private institutions, the lottery scholarship will be forfeited. Cannot be regained.

• Currently 16 months to decide to start college.

• Ends after 16 months.

• Lottery can petition for reinstatement of the lottery scholarship. If the student is going to lose it. 

  • Can petition if GPA dips below a 2.5. You must fill out petition with the institution financial aid office. 

• Does not cover any summer credit hours.

Opportunity Scholarship

• Covers first semester tuition and fee, lottery kicks in second semester covering tuition only and the opportunity covers fees associated with tuition (but not tuition after the first semester).

• Can cover multiple certificates

• Can be enrolled at least part time. Minimum 6 credits or under 6 credits opportunity will not qualify or be applied during Fall or Spring semesters/terms.

• Opportunity can be regained to students right away who have gone out of state if they have maintained residency with New Mexico. If residency is not maintained, students can regain opportunity after 12 consecutive months of residency in NM. 

• Covers up to 90 credit hours for an associate’s degree, and covers up to 160 credit hours for a bachelor’s degree, or 90 credit hours towards multiple certifications in certain qualifying fields/majors. 

  • Statute only provide funding for one associate’s degree, one bachelor's degree and multiple certificates (but depends on the field (major) for the certificate).

• Now covers 3 to 9 credit summer hours.

• State aide, Bridge and other institution scholarships applied first, opportunity second, other aid last.

Opportunity and lottery does not cover fees that are required by the course. (I.E. art material, nursing uniforms, tools, supplies, background checks, drug testing, etc).