NY Times

In this article, as the number of people joining universities in the United States is declining, the government of New Mexico is commencing an innovative experiment to stop the trend by introducing tuition-free college for all state residents, both the local and the immigrants. Although New Mexico is among the poorest states in the nation according to this article, it has probably come up with a dream come true plan for most students as states have failed to develop their innovation. The good thing with the New Mexico plan is that all state residents, including the new high school graduates and adults, are allowed to enroll in part-time studies regardless of their family income. Another benefit is that the program is open to all immigrants despite their status of immigration. The plan to treat college as a public resource similar to primary and secondary education will take off in July, and I strongly agree with the legislators treating college the same as primary and secondary education because they are student institutions and require the same treatment. The new state law has made the similarity possible, which approved the one percent of the state budget to go to public colleges and universities to cover tuition fees.
According to this article, there were critics from some legislators and other people questioning whether the revenue of oil and gas in New Mexico can secure funding to support the program beyond its first year. The recent war between Ukraine and Russia has made the economy of New Mexico grow as more funding has been made available due to oil as New Mexico is the second-largest oil-producing country. Although some states have adopted a similar program of covering some tuition expenses for some students, the New Mexico law outdoes them by covering the tuition and fees before even the application of scholarships and other sources of finances enabling students to use the additional funds obtains to cover for expenses such as food, child care or hostels. The program aims to reduce the students’ debt and focus on enabling students to look for other sources of funds without struggling to cover the cost of tuition. This will allow the adults who had dropped out of college due to economic reasons to continue their education. Also, the program is inclusive of prison inmates, unauthorized immigrants, and Native Americans. I think other states should adopt a similar plan as New Mexico to increase the number of students enrolling in universities and reduce college dropouts. According to the US statistics, most students drop out of universities due to a lack of tuition fees and upkeep money because most state universities are so expensive. Also, you find that most students in colleges fail exams due to a lack of time to attend class or revise for the exams because most of these students have to juggle between work and classes for them to be able to stay in colleges or universities, making them lose most of their class time to work. 
I think colleges are very important to attend, and everyone should be given a chance to attend. College is important because college people earn more than workers with only secondary education. A college degree holder will earn more than a worker with only a high school certificate. Also, colleges decrease the chances of unemployment, unlike a person with only a high school diploma. Another reason it is good to go to college is because college makes people become better citizens of that country. Earning a bachelor’s degree can improve the lives of those living around you since they volunteer so much in their community, unlike people with only a high school diploma. Also, I would recommend the government to have alternative schools such as technical schools apart from higher education. This is because some students from high school fail to reach the grade to go to universities, so instead of staying at home, they should be sent the technical schools to do technical courses.