Low grad rates plague lottery scholars

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - In New Mexico, a lottery ticket is not just a way to gamble on the future.

For young residents, it can be a sure way to a brighter tomorrow thanks to the state's lottery scholarship program. Approximately 61,000 New Mexicans have been able to attend college free of charge since the program began in 1996.

But critics say lottery scholars throw away tens of millions of dollars every year because most are not prepared for college and inevitably will drop out with no diploma.

"It's an enormous waste of (state) dollars because we're paying for something we're not getting," said Mark Truman, who runs a business that helps students get into the right college. "In very simple terms, we are paying students to go to school who won't graduate."

The problem, Truman said, is the lottery scholarship's low standards. Any New Mexico high school graduate can attend a state college or university for free with just a 2.5 grade-point average -- a little better than a C-plus.

At some schools, like Central New Mexico Community College, students with a high school diploma can start school on what's known as a "bridge scholarship." If they earn a 2.5 GPA their first semester, the lottery scholarship program will pay for the next four years of college as long as the student maintains the 2.5 average.

"Giving those students money means that we are giving students money who are unlikely to succeed in college," Truman said. "Students with a 2.5 GPA have a very, very high dropout rate."

The University of New Mexico received nearly $30 million in lottery money last year. However, only one in seven lottery scholars -- 14 percent -- earns a college degree after four years in school, according to UNM statistics.

Terry Babbitt, UNM associate vice president for enrollment, defended the program although he said he hasn't seen a detailed breakdown of its effectiveness.

"There are a lot of students graduating in raw numbers because of the lottery scholarship that wouldn't have before," Babbitt said.

The state analyzed the lottery scholarship program last summer and discovered that students who earn more demanding scholarships graduate at a much higher rate than lottery scholars. The report included a study that showed the lottery scholarship did not improve the four-year graduation rate at New Mexico State University and only slightly improved the school's six-year graduation rate.

"Those people don't magically receive lottery funds and become ready and equipped to deal with college," Truman said.

The report recommended raising standards for lottery scholars.

State Rep. Jimmie Hall, R-Albuquerque, is a big fan of the lottery program.

"The Legislature doesn't do a lot of things right, but when we created the lottery scholarship, that was something that was done right," he said.

Still, Hall said he didn't know that the overall graduation rate for lottery scholars at UNM was 14 percent. And he said he is concerned that raising standards could exclude students working on two-year degrees.

"When you start raising standards, that's when I have a concern if you talk about a university degree versus a technical-vocational certificate," Hall said.

The state Legislature sets the rules that govern the lottery program, though legislators did nothing to raise the standards during the last session. And Hall said it likely will take a crisis for he and his colleagues to act and change the standards.

Legislators will probably have to "get to the point where we don't have any money," he said.

And that day is coming.

Lottery revenues are flat and tuition continues to rise, which means the lottery scholarship program could be out of money as soon as 2015. So, whether legislators like it or not, they will probably have to make changes eventually to keep the program solvent.

"It's a program we should keep," Truman said. "We should make it more effective, but as it's going now, it's an enormous waste, and it sets students up for failure."