Fiscal impact reports (FIRs) are prepared by the Legislative Finance Committee (LFC) for standing finance
committees of the Legislature. LFC does not assume responsibility for the accuracy of these reports if they
are used for other purposes.
F I S C A L I M P A C T R E P O R T
SPONSOR Ferrary
/Chávez, E./Jones/Lopez/Cates
LAST UPDATED
ORIGINAL DATE 2/18/2025
SHORT TITLE
Graduate Behavioral Health Scholarship
Act
BILL
NUMBER House Bill 375
ANALYST Jorgensen
APPROPRIATION*
(dollars in thousands)
FY25 FY26
Recurring or
Nonrecurring
Fund
Affected $10,000.0 Nonrecurring General Fund
Parentheses ( ) indicate expenditure decreases.
*Amounts reflect most recent analysis of this legislation.
Relates to House Bill 347 and House Bill 397
Sources of Information
LFC Files
Agency Analysis Received From
Higher Education Department (HED) New Mexico State University (NMSU) University of New Mexico (UNM)
SUMMARY
Synopsis of House Bill 375
House Bill 375 (HB375) creates a new scholarship to pay tuition and fees for full-time graduate
students studying to become behavioral health professionals in the fields of counseling,
psychiatric nursing, nurse practitioner or physician assistant in addiction medicine, psychology,
and social work. HB375 creates the graduate behavioral health scholarship fund and appropriates
$10 million to create and administer the program. Scholarship recipients must commit to practice
in the state of New Mexico for the same number of years that the recipient student received the
scholarship and provides for a penalty of up to 3 times the value of the scholarship for those who
default on the contract obligation to practice in New Mexico. HB375 provides the Higher
Education Department (HED) up to $150 thousand per year to administer the scholarship
program.
This bill does not contain an effective date and, as a result, would go into effect 90 days after the
Legislature adjourns if enacted, or June 20, 2025.
House Bill 375 – Page 2
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS
The appropriation of $10 million contained in this bill is a nonrecurring expense to the general
fund. Although this bill does not specify future appropriations, multiyear appropriations create an
expectation the program will continue in future fiscal years; therefore, this cost could become
recurring after the funding period. The bill also allows HED to expend up to $150 thousand per
year to administer the program and the agency did not note any additional fiscal impact to the
operating budget.
SIGNIFICANT ISSUES
HED reports:
It remains unclear whether HED will select eligible graduate students or if the eligible
institutions will provide HED with student information, thus ensuring such students have
signed and agreed to the stipulations of the scholarship prior to receiving the award. HED
would promulgate rules regarding the administration and tracking of each student to
ensure tracking and contractual obligations are fulfilled.
HB347 neither requires a recipient student to be a New Mexico resident nor does it set a
maximum tuition rate equal to in-state tuition. There is a significant difference in resident and
nonresident tuition rates as shown in the table below:
Graduate Tuition Rates, 2024-2025
9 Credit Hours
Institution and Program Resident Non-Resident
UNM-Psych. Nurse Practitioner $5,626.62 $12,553.92
NMSU-Social Worker $2,590.20 $9,011.70
NMHU-Social Worker $2,889.00 $4,680.00
WNMU-Social Worker $3,082.50 $5,468.31
ENMU- Social Worker $2,853.00 $3,739.50
Source: LFC Files
Currently, New Mexico offers loan repayment for mental health providers through the Health
Professional Loan Repayment Act. Mental health providers include licensed professional clinical
counselors, licensed marriage and family therapists, licensed clinical social workers, clinical
psychologists, psychiatric nurse practitioners, and psychiatrists. Additionally, the act allows
HED to designate other medical professionals as eligible to receive loan repayment. In FY24,
HED provided nearly $15 million in loan repayments to 701 health professionals, including 153
mental health providers with an average annual award amount of $25 thousand.
The University of New Mexico (UNM) notes the following ambiguity as it relates to the bills
requirement that recipients “practice in New Mexico for as many years as the eligible student
receives a scholarship”:
1. The bill does not define what is meant by “practice in the state.” Does this mean full-
time clinical practice? (Is part-time clinical practice allowed, and if so how will this
change the practice requirement contract?)
2. Can the practice requirements be fulfilled concurrently with the period of graduate
training? Most grad trainees in the specified fields are engaged in practice House Bill 375 – Page 3
experiences that serve the state during the same period that they are completing their
graduate programs. Will this count toward the practice requirement?
3. Must the practice requirements be fulfilled immediately after graduation? PhD
students who graduate in Psychology, for example, must complete a residency and
postdoc training elsewhere before they could realistically return to NM to complete
their practice requirement?
4. Must the practice requirement be fulfilled in consecutive years? If not, should the
requirement be framed as a certain time period (e.g. requirement must be fulfilled
within 5 or 10 years)?
New Mexico State University offers several mental health programs not covered by HB375:
Marriage and Family Therapy graduate program, school psychology, and clinical
psychopharmacology.
CONFLICT, DUPLICATION, COMPANIONSHIP, RELATIONSHIP
HB375 is similar to House Bill 347, which appropriates $10 million from the general fund to
HED for the purpose of providing scholarships, paid practicums, and other student financial aid
for students in bachelor's and master’s degree programs in behavioral health fields.
HB375 is similar to House Bill 397, which appropriates $2 million from the general fund to HED
to provide monetary stipends to undergraduate and graduate behavioral health students
completing training, supervision or experiential requirements necessary to obtain professional
licensure.
ALTERNATIVES
HED notes that “alternatives to this legislation could include providing the Allied Health Loan-
for-Service Programs (LFS) administered by NMHED (21-22C NMSA 1978) an appropriation
for the purpose of graduate behavioral health scholarships.”
CJ/rl/Sl2