PORTLAND – The University of Southern Maine Alumni Association is holding a raffle where the winning prize is tuition for a year.

USM alumni are selling $10 tickets for its first tuition raffle. The winning ticket will provide a $6,000 payment to a student’s account that can be applied toward tuition, fees and other school expenses.

The $6,000 is the cost of 24 credit hours of tuition for the 2011-2012 academic year.

Proceeds will also go toward building up a scholarship fund for other students.

Ticket sales end on Dec. 20. More information is available at the alumni association’s website, www.alumniusm.org.