New Mexico has announced a plan to make public college and university free for all residents in the state, a proposal considered one of the most ambitious attempts to make higher education more accessible, NPR reported. The plan, if approved by the state's Democratic-controlled legislature, would allow students, regardless of household income, to attend any of the 29 state's public colleges and universities. State officials estimate that the program, officially called the New Mexico Opportunity Scholarship, will help 55,000 students each year attend college. Calling the plan "the moonshot for higher education,” officials calculate the plan would carry an annual price tag of between $25 million and $35 million and that the funding would be drawn from the state's general fund, which has recently seen revenue boosts due to oil production in the Permian Basin that stretches across parts of West Texas and southeastern New Mexico. Relying heavily on resource extraction for revenue has forced the state to pull back on spending, as in 2016 when a decline in oil and gas production made state officials slash funding to public universities to close a budget gap.
