Improving College Affordability to Support New Mexico’s Education, Workforce, and Economic Goals
Report States that graduate more college students and ensure that their workers have the skills needed for 21st century jobs have stronger and more competitive economies, higher wages, lower unemployment rates, and lower poverty rates. But New Mexico has not been focused on improving access to post-secondary credentials for lower-income students and older adults that would help lead to a more broadly shared prosperity. Rather, the state is ignoring long-term economic demands, choosing, instead, to continue to be a low-wage state with the highest long-term unemployment rate, have the highest poverty rate among the employed, and have the second worst student loan default rate in the nation. (A Working Poor Families report; state-level data on state-funded financial aid and some characteristics of college students)