A. The General Richard T. Knowles legislative scholarship program shall be administered by the board of regents of the New Mexico military institute. The board of regents shall establish one hundred twelve scholarships available to New Mexico residents, one scholarship available for each state legislative district.
B. Annually, each state legislator may nominate four prospective scholarship recipients to the board of regents of the New Mexico military institute. If a legislator has no applicant from the legislator's district, that senator or representative may choose to nominate an applicant from a senate or representative district contiguous to the legislator's own district, thus maintaining geographical diversity in the corps of cadets while affording a greater opportunity for more New Mexicans to receive a scholarship. In the event no applicant is available by July 1 of each year from either the legislator's district or a contiguous district, the scholarship may be awarded to any of the qualified nominees from any state legislative district.
C. Scholarships shall be awarded to qualifying New Mexico residents for a term not to exceed four years.
D. The board of regents shall establish criteria for the awarding of scholarships. Criteria shall include scholastic ability, faculty recommendations, standardized test scores, letters of recommendation, school honors and extracurricular activities.
History: Laws 1989, ch. 44, § 2; 1989, ch. 45, § 2; 1998 (1st S.S.), ch. 4, § 2; 2009, ch. 228, § 1.
The 2009 amendment, effective June 19, 2009, in Subsection B, added the last sentence.
The 1998 amendment, effective on August 2, 1998, in Subsection A, substituted "General Richard T. Knowles legislative scholarship program" for "legislator scholarship program", and substituted "for" for "in" near the end; and added the last sentence in Subsection B.
Structure New Mexico Statutes
Chapter 21 - State and Private Education Institutions
Article 12 - New Mexico Military Institute
Section 21-12-1 - [Board of regents; appointment; term; political affiliations; compensation.]
Section 21-12-2 - [Election of officers; duties; bond of secretary-treasurer.]
Section 21-12-3 - [Board of regents; duty; educational standard.]
Section 21-12-4 - [Rules and regulations; teachers' contracts; buildings; improvements.]
Section 21-12-5 - Sale of lands.
Section 21-12-6 - [Deeds and contracts signed by president.]
Section 21-12-7 - [Increase in tuition fee authorized.]
Section 21-12-8 - Officers to be governor's aides; rank; uniforms.
Section 21-12-9 - Organization of cadets; cadet commissions; authority of superintendent.
Section 21-12-10 - [Ordnance and quartermaster's stores; care and custody; annual report.]
Section 21-12-11 - General Richard T. Knowles legislative scholarship program created; purpose.
Section 21-12-12 - Program administration; criteria.
Section 21-12-13 - Fund created.
Section 21-12-14 - Investment of fund.
Section 21-12-15 - New Mexico military institute; transfer of budget balances.
Section 21-12-16 - Public safety education; scholarships.
Section 21-12-17 - Corrections education; scholarships.
Section 21-12-18 - Luciano "Lucky" Varela opportunity scholarship created; purpose.
Section 21-12-19 - Program administration; criteria.
Section 21-12-20 - Luciano "Lucky" Varela opportunity scholarship fund.
Section 21-12-21 - New Mexico military institute; transfer of budget balances.