For the first time in the history of the UNM-Valencia campus, the student head count has exceeded 2,000. As of the 21-day count, 2,049 students were enrolled in courses.
The spring semester record followed another record set during the fall 2007 semester. Enrollment at UNM-Valencia set a precedent this past fall with increases in double digits from the previous fall semester.
As for the spring semester figures, Alice Letteney, executive director of the Valencia campus, noted the historical significance of the enrollment numbers. “This is the first time in our 26 years of operation that we’ve had a head count over 2,000.”
“That is a 20 percent increase with our most significant increase coming from our full-time- equivalency students,” she said. There are 1,133 FTE students enrolled this semester.
Letteney credited the increase to two factors. “We’ve been working more closely with the high schools to enroll dual credit students, and we seem to be retaining more developmental students.”
Last fall, the FTE increase was 13 percent, with 1,079 students compared to 956 the previous fall semester.
The growing pains continued from the fall semester as staff and faculty scrambled to add more sections and raise caps on courses to accommodate the increase in enrollment.
Campus officials are hoping the trend continues, and Letteney noted that the Valencia campus is the only site in the UNM system to show an increase in enrollment.