Senate Majority Leader Michael Sanchez, D-Belen, makes sure a lottery scholarship bill passes the Legislature on Thursday. (Eddie Moore/Albuquerque Journal)

SANTA FE – A bill to balance the state’s teetering lottery scholarship fund by cutting the popular college scholarships from eight semesters to seven, requiring students to take more credit hours and adding revenues from state liquor taxes squeaked through the Legislature with only minutes left Thursday.

Without the so-called lottery scholarship fix, a one-time $11.5 million appropriation in the state budget would have been eliminated. With the fix, starting in fiscal 2016, about $19 million annually from liquor excise taxes will replace the one-time General Fund appropriation.