Mexico Allocates MX$8.7 Billion to Student Welfare Programs

The federal government is supporting over 13 million students across all educational levels through its flagship welfare scholarship initiatives, with a bimonthly investment exceeding MX$23.9 billion(US$1.45 billion). The funding, part of President Claudia Sheinbaum’s education policy priorities, was confirmed by education officials in a recent public briefing.

“Our goal is to ensure that no student abandons their studies for economic reasons,” said Julio León Trujillo, Head, National Coordination of Scholarships for Welfare (CNBB). He emphasized the scale of the programs, which in 2025 will distribute more than MX$144.8 billion (US$8.7 billion) through various scholarship schemes and infrastructure support.

The CNBB oversees multiple initiatives, including the Rita Cetina scholarship, which reaches 8.6 million students in preschool, primary, and secondary schools through 210,029 institutions nationwide. This program alone receives a bimonthly allocation of nearly MX$13.9 billion (US$722.08 million).

One of the most significant expansions occurred in the secondary education segment, where 2.9 million payment cards were delivered to beneficiaries of the "Rita Cetina" scholarship, covering more than 3.1 million students. This distribution corresponds to a bimonthly investment of over MX$5.7 billion (US$296.10 million).

In upper-secondary education, the universal Benito Juárez scholarship serves over 4 million students across 13,338 schools. The program has reached 94% of its card distribution goal for 2024, with 1.6 million of the planned 1.7 million cards already delivered. Bimonthly funding for this segment totals MX$7.7 billion (US$400.00 million).

Higher education students are supported through the "Jóvenes Escribiendo el Futuro" (Youth Writing The Future) program, which provides MX$5,800 (US$301.30 million) every two months per student. So far, 164,000 of the planned 180,000 cards have been delivered, targeting more than 409,000 university students across 2,766 institutions. The program’s bimonthly investment is approximately MX$2.37 billion (US$123.12 million).

Separately, the federal infrastructure initiative La Escuela es Nuestra (LEEN), led by Pamela López, is directing MX$25 billion (US$1.30 billion) in 2025 to upgrade facilities at 74,100 public schools at the basic and upper-secondary levels. The effort aims to improve conditions for 8.1 million students.

So far, nearly 70,000 School Committees for Participatory Administration have been established, involving over 305,000 parents, educators, and students. In June, these committees will receive banking cards via the Banco del Bienestar and begin receiving a first tranche of MX$22 billion (US $1.14 billion). The remaining 8,000 committees are expected to be operational by June, with funds distributed in July and August.

The coordinated effort underscores the administration’s approach to tackling economic barriers to education and empowering communities to manage school resources directly. According to officials, these interventions are designed to promote continuity in education, improve school conditions, and reduce dropout rates nationwide.