by Justin Gonzalez
Daily Lobo
The 2002 fall semester at UNM saw the largest beginning freshmen class in 28 years and 88.4 percent of those students returned this spring, the highest retention in more than five years.
As of the Feb. 7 census date, 23,813 students were attending UNM’s main campus, compared with 22,946 last spring, making it the largest spring enrollment since 1999, according to a UNM press release.
Peter White, dean of University College, attributes the high retention of the freshman class to several factors including the Lottery Success Scholarship, which is helping finance school for 69 percent of the freshman class, the Freshmen Learning Communities and strong ethnic center support.
White also credits an improving advisement system, coordinated through ethnic support centers, for the retention rates among ethnic students at UNM.
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“The support personnel throughout student affairs are working very carefully with our students to help them be successful,” White said.
The mean freshman GPA is also at an all-time high of 2.88, said Mark Chisholm, director of UNM Institutional Research.
Another notable increase this spring, according to the Office of Academic Affairs, came in the area of evening and weekend enrollment, with a credit hour increase of 11.7 percent, which is an additional 5,548 reported credit hours.
The coordinators of the evening and weekend programs are making sure that some of the degrees that are offered stay on track so students can continue to make progress on their degrees, said Kathleen Sena, UNM registrar.
