Students walking at the University of New Mexico on Sept. 7, 2023. (Photo by Anna Padilla for Source New Mexico)
The proposed state budget includes $20 million over the next three years for efforts to keep college students enrolled. Some of that money could be used to address high rates of housing and food insecurity among students in New Mexico, which far surpass national averages.
Last year, University of New Mexico researchers, in partnership with the state Higher Education Department, surveyed nearly 10,000 students at colleges and universities across the state. More than half of students , they found, had struggled to access food, especially nutritious food, and stable housing within the prior year — referred to by the researchers as basic needs insecurity.
Some students reported they’d thought about leaving school to get a second job. Others said they had a hard time focusing in class because of hunger or sometimes skipped class to pick up extra shifts.
This story was originally published by New Mexico In Depth
The state budget proposal includes $4.5 million for “student retention initiatives” at public four-year institutions for the next fiscal year. It also includes $6.5 million for the following year and $9 million for the year after that for those initiatives.
The budget doesn’t specify that the funding be used to address students’ basic needs, but schools could choose to use it for that purpose, according to Higher Education Deputy Secretary Patricia Trujillo…