NMSU graduate workers win full-time tuition

LAS CRUCES — The union representing graduate student workers at New Mexico State University secured full-time tuition support through a memorandum of understanding ratified by NMSU’s regents Wednesday.

As a result, graduate students juggling research with teaching responsibilities will be guaranteed scholarships covering nine credit hours, up from six, beginning in the fall 2026 semester. The agreement was signed by the union president and NMSU President Valerio Ferme earlier in February.

The ratification caps a long-term win for the bargaining unit and a strategic move for the university as it positions itself to attract higher-quality research students. 

Caedmon Ragland, president of the bargaining unit UE Local 1498, or Graduate Workers United,  told the Journal in an interview that the vote was "a massive win and a huge example of the amazing and tenacious organizing that we have done on this campus in such harsh conditions.”

GWU is organized as a local bargaining unit of the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America.

Negotiations with the university, starting from a 2018 petition for recognition as a bargaining unit, were publicly fraught as students pushed for negotiations on stipends, health care and tuition, including several on-campus demonstrations. The collective bargaining unit secured its first contract with the university late in 2022, with the university guaranteeing two credit hours per semester. Continuing negotiations increased the guarantee to six credits by the ratification of a new contract late in 2024.

The new agreement on tuition extends through May 31, 2028, and guarantees nine credits of tuition coverage for students holding assistantships for fall and spring semesters. The support is prorated based on assistantships' work-hour requirements and tuition support some students receive through external grants, Ragland said.

The regents voted 3-0 to approve the agreement during a special meeting on the Las Cruces campus, with Vice Chair Deborah Romero and Regent Ricardo Gonzales participating by video conference and Regent Christopher Saucedo absent. The student regent, Marisol Olivas, abstained from the vote.

General counsel Lisa Henderson presented the agreement as a shrewd move by Ferme, joking that he “looked in all the cushions in the couch” to pay for the scholarships. Ferme officially started his position in 2025. 

When Regent Chair Ammu Devasthali asked him if the budget would support the increased tuition coverage, Ferme said, “It was available as money that we could actually put forth for the upcoming years … We’re pretty comfortable with it.” He said the added cost would amount to approximately $735,000 per academic year.

In fall 2025, the university reported 3,037 graduate students enrolled systemwide, up 4.7% from last year. Ragland said a majority of graduate students on campus hold assistantships, as opposed to online-only students.

With NMSU having recently earned designation as a Carnegie-classified R1 research institution, faculty senate chair Vimal Chaitanya said the tuition remissions were a standard for R1 institutions: “Their graduate students would be getting tuition being paid by the university or through the grants … to remain competitive with other R1 institutions and attract good quality students, as the president mentioned, this is a step in the right place.”

Graduate School Dean Ranjit Koodali, in a statement following the meeting, said the change “will help attract high-quality students and help make NMSU the preferred choice for graduate education, regionally and nationally.”

Graduate Student Council President Anna Harmon, in a statement presented to the regents, said, “Graduate students help form the research backbone of our university. Undergraduate students are able to get more scholarships than graduate students. … This would ensure that students can make timely progress towards their degree without taking additional financial strain.”

“As you all know, regents have been in favor of tuition remission for graduate students for a very long time,” Devasthali said. “We just haven’t been able to come up with the funds for it.”

“There was always enough money to do this,” Ragland countered in an interview. “The only thing was, this money was (from) excess funds that NMSU had, and they were entirely unwilling to pull from that in order to give full tuition coverage. We will continue to talk about excess funds in bargaining in the future as a place we can pull money from in order to make it sustainable to be a graduate student here.”

Algernon D’Ammassa is the Journal’s southern New Mexico correspondent. He can be reached at adammassa@abqjournal.com.