Report Summary: Every year NMSU employs about 900 graduate workers to teach undergraduate students and work on research projects. After paying tuition, a condition of employment, NMSU graduate workers are left with an average annual salary of just $12,123, over $1,000 below the federal poverty line for a single adult. Graduate employees, faculty, univeristy research leaders, and outside consultants have recommended immediate investments in graduate employee tuition coverage for years. However, NMSU has yet to implement tuition coverage and continues to lag behind peer institutions, 80% of whom offer some form of gauranteed tuition coverage to graduate employees. Analysis of the NMSU operating budget for Fiscal Year 2023 shows that there is $8.5 million in surplus unrestricted I&G revenues and $2.5 million in surplus student aid funds that could be used to cover 2.7 million in graduate employee tuition for fall 2022.