New Mexico

Southeast New Mexico is investing in you

Published

2 years ago

February 22, 2024

Kevin Beardmore
| President, Southeast New Mexico College

Southeast New Mexico College recently participated with other community colleges in the state in an economic impact study conducted by Lightcast, a global leader in labor market analytics. Given the sheer amount of data that must be included, such studies are always a couple years in arrears. The year chosen was 2021-2022, which happens to be when New Mexico State University – Carlsbad became SENMC. While that complicated the process somewhat, we knew it would provide a baseline look at the college upon its founding.

Even in that roller coaster of a year, the results were still impressive. Based on historical data, SENMC students will see an average 20.9% annual return on the funds they spend on their education. This is a stunning figure when you compare it to the 9.6% average annual return over the past 30 years for the U.S. stock market. The low tuition at SENMC, high state support for scholarships, and programs focused on the success of our graduates make for an incredible investment.

The benefits do not stop there. For every $1 spent on the college, the community gains $4.50 in added income and social savings. This results in a total annual impact of $60.3 million for Eddy County, with 599 jobs supported each year. The report notes that this annual economic boost is essentially equivalent to hosting the Major League Baseball World Series, buying 90 new vehicles, and purchasing a year’s worth of groceries for 139 families—combined.

This is all before the move to complete independence was truly gaining traction. At that time, there were services for students, faculty, and staff that were still provided by the New Mexico State University Main Campus. This meant that dollars were being expended on employees in Las Cruces, leading to those funds being put into circulation there. Today that local funding does not flow to a city more than three hours away. It remains here, which means that if the study was completed today, the impact would be even more significant.

In addition, we are deep in the design phase of our Trades x Technologies Building. When construction begins next year, we will see the infusion of construction wages into our region. This will be followed by academic programs in Electrical, Oil and Gas, and Radiation Control, which will enhance the skill sets of employees, both current and future, and establish a base for further economic growth in the coming decades.

The difference in an individual student’s life, however, is arguably more noteworthy. The average associate degree graduate from SENMC will see an increase in earnings of $11,600 each year in their career as compared to someone with a high school diploma. Quality of life generally increases with more education because of the increase in salary, better health outcomes, and the pride that comes with academic achievement.

The change that occurs in one’s life due to education reverberates through the generations. Yes, the dollars and cents matter. Reports such as the one from Lightcast make the case for the importance of our college in the community. But you cannot place a price on a new perspective or an increased thirst for knowledge and excellence. To see the world with new eyes and live a life that is a voyage of discovery, to loosely paraphrase Marcel Proust, is beyond material and temporal value.

The faculty and staff of Southeast New Mexico College live to create such an experience for our students. If you or someone you know are seeking to become more, we hope you will join us for a journey of a lifetime.

Kevin Beardmore may be reached at kbeardmore@senmc.edu or 575.234.9211.

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New Mexico

New Mexico deserves speedier game commission appointments

Published

3 hours ago

January 9, 2026

Press Room

New Mexico deserves speedier game commission appointments

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New Mexico

What bills have been filed for New Mexico’s 2026 legislative session?

Published

15 hours ago

January 8, 2026

Press Room

What bills have been filed for New Mexico’s 2026 legislative session?

The governor sets the agenda for the session, including for the budget, so here is what they are looking at so far.

SANTA FE, N.M. — As the regular session of the New Mexico Legislature is set to begin Jan. 20, lawmakers have already filed dozens of bills.

Bills include prohibiting book bans at public libraries and protections against AI, specifically the distribution of sensitive and “Deepfake” images

Juvenile justice reform is, again, a hot topic. House Bill 25 would allow access to someone’s juvenile records during a background check if they’re trying to buy a gun.

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham sets the agenda and puts forth the proposed budget lawmakers will address during the session. The governor is calling for lawmakers to take up an $11.3 billion budget for the 2027 fiscal year, which is up 4.6% from current spending levels.

Where would that money go? More than $600 million would go to universal free child care. Meanwhile, more than $200 million would go to health care and to protect against federal funding cuts.

There is also $65 million for statewide affordable housing initiatives and $19 million for public safety.

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New Mexico

Understanding New Mexico’s data center boom | Opinion

Published

1 day ago

January 8, 2026

Press Room

Understanding New Mexico’s data center boom | Opinion

Paul Gessing, Rio Grande Foundation
| Las Cruces Sun-News

After years of failure to land a “big fish” business for New Mexico’s economy (or effectively use the oil and gas revenues to grow the economy) Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham with the help of her Economic Development Secretary Rob Black have lured no fewer than three large data centers to New Mexico. These data centers are being built to serve the booming world of Artificial Intelligence (AI), and they will have profound impacts on New Mexico.

It is our view that having these data centers locate in New Mexico is better than having them locate elsewhere. While we have many differences of opinion with this governor, we are pleased to see her get serious about growing and diversifying New Mexico’s oil-dependent economy albeit quite late in her second term.

Sadly, the governor and legislature have chosen not to use broad based economic reforms like deregulation or tax cuts to improve New Mexico’s competitiveness. But, with the failure of her “preferred” economic development “wins” like Maxeon and Ebon solar both of which the governor announced a few years ago, but haven’t panned out, the focus on a more realistic strategy is welcome and long overdue.

Currently, three new data centers are slated to be built in New Mexico:

Oracle’s Project Jupiter in Santa Teresa with an investment of $165 billion.
Project Zenith slated to be built in Roswell amounts to a $11.7 billion investment.
New Era Energy & Digital, Inc. While the overall investment is unclear, the energy requirement is the largest of the three at 7 gigawatts (that’s seven times the power used by the City of San Francisco).

What is a data center? Basically, they are the real-world computing infrastructure that makes up the Internet. The rise of AI requires vast new computing power. It is critical that these facilities have uninterrupted electricity.

That electricity is going to be largely generated by traditional sources like natural gas and possibly nuclear. That contravenes New Mexico’s Energy Transition Act of 2019 which was adopted by this Gov. and many of the legislators still in office. Under the Act electrical power emissions are supposed to be eliminated in a few years.

With the amount of money being invested in these facilities and the simple fact that wind and solar and other “renewable” energy sources aren’t going to get the job done. In 2025 the Legislature passed and MLG signed HB 93 which allows for the creation of “microgrids” that won’t tax the grid and make our electricity more expensive, but the ETA will have to be amended or ignored to provide enough electricity for these data centers. There’s no other option.

New Mexicans have every right to wonder why powerful friends of the governor can set up their own natural gas microgrids while the rest of us face rising costs and decreased reliability from so-called “renewables.” Don’t get me wrong, having these data centers come to New Mexico is an economic boon.

But it comes tempered with massive subsidies including a 30-year property tax exemption and up to $165 billion in industrial revenue bonds. New Mexico is ideally suited as a destination for these data centers with its favorable climate and lack of natural disasters like hurricanes, tornadoes, and floods. We shouldn’t be giving away such massive subsidies.

Welcoming the data center boom to New Mexico better than rejecting them and pushing them to locate in other states. There is no way to avoid CO2 emissions whether they happen here or somewhere else. But, there are questions about both the electricity demand and subsidies that must be addressed as New Mexico’s data center boom begins.

What will the Legislature, radical environmental groups, and future governors of our state do to hinder (or help) bring these data centers to our State? That is an open question that depends heavily on upcoming statewide elections. It is important that New Mexicans understand and appreciate these complicated issues.

Paul Gessing is president of New Mexico’s Rio Grande Foundation. The Rio Grande Foundation is an independent, nonpartisan, tax-exempt research and educational organization dedicated to promoting prosperity for New Mexico based on principles of limited government, economic freedom and individual responsibility

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