NMSU enrollment up almost three percent systemwide

Unofficial enrollment numbers for the New Mexico State University system show an increase of nearly 3 percent systemwide over last fall, with enrollment at the Las Cruces campus surpassing pre-pandemic levels.

 While enrollment data is still being finalized and is subject to change, preliminary data from the university’s fall census date of Sept. 1 shows a systemwide headcount for fall 2023 of 21,829 – a 2.9 percent increase over fall 2022.

 That unduplicated headcount includes 14,794 undergraduate and graduate students at NMSU’s Las Cruces campus, an increase of 3.7 percent over fall 2022. First-time freshman class enrollment is up 3.4 percent over fall 2022, with 2,410 students. Undergraduate continuing student enrollment is 7,915, which is 5.4 percent higher than fall 2022. Las Cruces campus enrollment surpassed its pre-pandemic fall 2019 level of 14,296 by nearly 3.5 percent.

 NMSU Global, the university’s fully online campus, now has more than 2,100 students – a 32.8 percent increase over fall 2022.

 NMSU’s community colleges also saw enrollment increases this fall. NMSU Alamogordo has 1,091 students enrolled, up 5.5 percent over fall 2022, while NMSU Grants has 837 students enrolled, an increase of 4.5 percent – which also puts the Grants campus enrollment above its pre-pandemic level. The largest community college campus, Doña Ana Community College, has 6,871 students enrolled, up 2.9 percent over last fall.

 “There was severe enrollment loss at the NMSU community colleges during the pandemic,” DACC Chancellor Monica Torres said. “It was heartbreaking to see so many community college students lose valuable educational opportunities to the circumstances COVID dropped in our collective laps. As students and families experience recovered – and continue to recover – from those very challenging conditions, the NMSU community colleges are now experiencing enrollment gains. That is good news for our students and our communities.”

“The Opportunity Scholarship has improved retention, because it makes financing college predictable,” NMSU Vice President for Student Success Renay Scott said. “We’ve seen fewer students with outstanding balances and our students have less loan debt. Going to college is a full-time job for most students, and the Opportunity Scholarship has taken the pressure off for a lot of students who would otherwise have to take time off to save for tuition costs.”

Scott said the university has been working hard to ensure students have the support they need to make it through to graduation. Programs like the Aggie Launch Pad are helping to remove some of the barriers to success that students experience. The initiative provides a laptop and additional digital literacy training and workshops to make the most of the technology.

 Programs offered through NMSU’s Student Success Center provide tutoring and mentoring services, financial literacy programming, career development, graduate school planning, and support for first-generation college students – all with a goal of getting students to the finish line in earning their degrees.

Currently, about 8,472 of NMSU’s students systemwide will benefit from the Opportunity Scholarship during the fall 2023 term, according to Melissa Magnusson, director of Financial Aid. Since its expansion in fall 2022, the scholarship has been awarded to 10,330 NMSU students.

 Once fall enrollment data has been fully verified and finalized, it will be available online at oia.nmsu.edu.