Two questions: a) Who's paying for this? Because "free" always has to be paid for, and b) How many of the newly minted graduates will be leaving New Mexico with their newly minted degree? New Mexico is a poor state and not exactly covered over with jobs for new college graduates.

Like student loan mess, this will mushroom into a financial morass. When the money comes from having a large number of students enrolled, grading will be diluted so all students maintain at least a 2.5 GPA and their state funding. Schools will reduce admissions requirements to obtain the maximum number of students. Costs, unrestrained by market necessity of having consumers being willing to pay the attendant price for the product, will skyrocket. Whenever you put free money into a closed system, it distorts the market conditions that keep the system in check - risks, costs, etc. This will not end well.

The other option is they will limit supply to match funding. So a fixed number of people will get a degree paid for by the state. After a few years those people will fall into two categories.

One, the highly credentialed. Rich people who got a good education and have the paperwork to back it up will get a government paid for degree.

Two, the politically connected. People who's story is good for buying politicians votes. People who are relatives of politicians. Big donors as well. Those people will get a government paid for degree.

Everyone else will be told to take a hike. The only question is will these state schools still permit people to pay with their own money to get a degree. In much of Europe you can't. I.e. the government gets to pick who does and who does not have a chance at a degree. Not on the politically favored list, too bad. No degree for you.

Dear high school students,

Apply to the New Mexico college of your choice, get accepted, take a skip year, move to New Mexico, establish your residency, and then enter college.

So New Mexico state college degree is now the equivalent of a High School diploma?

There's gotta be a million strings attached to New Mexico's plan. Are they really going to pay for a bunch of people to get really useless degrees?

If every taxpayer in New Mexico is on the hook to pay for the college education of New Mexico’s university students, will the state’s universities be allowed to turn away unqualified students? If not, what does the legislature think this will do to the quality of the state’s higher education?

What about out-of-state students? Will they get a free ride?

I went to college in New Mexico more than 30 years ago. At the time, it appeared that the major state schools were all bottomless pits of admissions. Supposedly, where I went to school, all one had to do to be accepted was take the SAT or ACT. There was no minimum score requirement. This makes me wonder if they're going to now have to limit the number of new students and give preference to out of state students who will be paying those tuition fees.

When I went to college, I came across a lot of out of state students who said that the tuition there was far less than the tuition for the colleges in their home states. I'm pretty certain that's still true today.

This piece is more about slavery than education, but does touch on the actual price of "free stuff".

A planned economy is by definition slavery. You are told where to work. The government has tables of how much you will make. What you will make. In the crazier communist (or socialist, but they’re more subtle about it) regimes, you get told which of the “free education” you can consume. You’re selected to study this or that. You’re told if you can study at all. And if you study, you’re told how you can use it. And how much you’ll make.

HOW do you think “free college for all” will work? Sure, we might have a generation or two of everyone taking whatever they want. More likely 3 to 4 years. And then? Ah, and then…. the planned economy will dictate what you can study and when. Sure, everyone might go to college, but most of them will be taking some form of general studies. College will in fact become what High School has become. Not any kind of preparation for adulthood.

https://accordingtohoyt.com/2019/09/18/stop-the-slavers/

Tuition will be free. Meanwhile room and board will become mandatory and zoom to 25k a year.

Yes, a number of schools have pulled that gag Isab.

" will the state’s universities be allowed to turn away unqualified students? "

Why would they try? When every student becomes a virtual basket of free government money, with which to hire more faculty at higher pay, the only rational response is to grow the student body as quickly as possible. If any faculty see the insanity in this system, that only increases this perverse incentive because they want to amass as much money as possible with which to purchase canned goods and ammunition before civilization collapses.

Whether a course of action is rational is often a question of goals, incentives, and how best to achieve them.

This still won't work, because those who are looking for something which is "free" want to get something, not DO something.

Study? Why? My grades should be free!