A. An account owner may enter into a college investment agreement with the board under which an account in the education trust fund is established and contributions may be made to the account from time to time, consistent with the terms of the agreement, to defray the cost of eligible higher education expenses at institutions of higher education. Each account shall be accounted for separately from all other accounts in the education trust fund. An account owner may enter into a college investment agreement on behalf of any beneficiary.

B. Gifts and bequests by persons other than the account owner may be made to an account in the education trust fund for the benefit of the beneficiary in accordance with the terms of the college investment agreement.

C. The board shall set forth procedures relating to the withdrawal of money from an account established in the education trust fund pursuant to a college investment agreement.

D. A college investment agreement may be terminated by the account owner at any time. The board shall specify by rule appropriate provisions for the term and termination of college investment agreements.

E. Contributions made to an account in the education trust fund, together with accrued investment earnings and capital appreciation in such account, shall be excluded from any calculation of the respective beneficiary's student financial aid eligibility in New Mexico.

F. The board shall notify each account owner annually about the status of the account owner's account in the education trust fund.

History: Laws 1997, ch. 259, § 5; 1999, ch. 221, § 3; 2000, ch. 39, § 1; 2001, ch. 270, § 3; repealed and reenacted by Laws 2014, ch. 76, § 6.

Repeals and reenactments. — Laws 2014, ch. 76, § 6 repealed former 21-21K-5 NMSA 1978, and enacted a new section, effective May 21, 2014.

The 2001 amendment, effective June 15, 2001, rewrote Subsection F, which formerly read "A college investment agreement terminates on the tenth anniversary of the date the beneficiary is projected to graduate from high school, not counting time spent by the beneficiary as an active duty member of the United States armed services"; and deleted "education trust" preceding "fund" in Subsection I.

The 2000 amendment, effective May 17, 2000, deleted the proviso that a beneficiary must be under the age of nineteen for an investor to enter into a college investment agreement on their behalf in Subsection A, deleted former Subsection B, concerning age and residency restrictions of a beneficiary, deleted former Subsection D, concerning residency restrictions of a beneficiary or an investor, and renumbered the remaining subsections accordingly.

The 1999 amendment, effective June 18, 1999, in Subsection D, deleted the former last sentence which read "A beneficiary is considered a resident for purposes of tuition regardless of the beneficiary's residence on the date of enrollment"; in Subsection F, substituted "The board shall provide, by rule, procedures for determining the amount to be refunded for college investment agreements terminated" for "If the college investment agreement is terminated", deleted "the board shall refund to the investor an amount equal to all the principal contributed or paid in by the investor plus interest not to exceed four percent annually" following "provisions of this section" in the first sentence, and inserted "the amount refunded and" preceding "administrative costs" in the second sentence; and, in Subsection K, substituted "status of the education trust fund" for "balance of his college savings agreement principal, accrued investment earnings and capital appreciation".