Within 10 years, more than 3,000 students with at least 98 credit hours left UNM without graduating.
On Friday, students celebrated the graduation of more than 1,000 of those students through the Graduation Project - the only one of its kind in the nation.
The planning began in the fall of 1996. David Stuart, associate provost for academic affairs, and former UNM President Chris Garcia conducted a study to see why UNM students were not graduating.
They found students were leaving UNM because tuition was not affordable, they were not able to receive advisement, couldn't get the classes needed and parking was difficult.
Stuart was able to contact the students through a national credit-trace service for about $2 per student. Those who had 98 credit hours with a 2.0 GPA or higher were invited to come back to the University to graduate. The program started sending out letters in January 1997, and about 150 students responded.
"We didn't know what to expect, but we had students who we could help immediately," Stuart said. "That was important."
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With an average GPA of 2.89, he said the problem for students was not academics - real life was taking over.
"It's hard when you have a family - things just wouldn't work out, and I'd have to quit school and hopefully go back the next semester," said Linda Marmon, a UNM graduate through the project.
Based on the study's results, Stuart prioritized the reasons students gave for dropping out and set out to create the program.
"Dr. Stuart was so insightful and creative when he came up with this program," Marmon said. "I had come to a point where I didn't know if I would graduate - then they contacted me."
UNM's Board of Regents allocates a tuition award of $1,600 for two academic years to the project for qualifying students.
"The regents have been our most solid and most consistent partner in this thing," Stuart said.
With students returning as beginning seniors, Stuart said a lot of times the courses they need are closed, but said he is able to override the registration system in the Registrar's Office to enroll students in closed classes.
The project aims to provide support for the students who left and basically serve as a home base, said Vanessa Shields, project coordinator.
"The key here is the students' perception that somebody figured out who they are and got to them," she said.
Students are contacted at least once a semester and are given degree summaries.
There are 201 students enrolled in the project this semester. Most attend night classes, which were first offered at the University in 1986.
Stuart said some UNM community members are baffled about the program because its graduation rate is 68 percent compared with about a 40 percent graduation rate for undergraduates.
He said this is what can happen when students are taken more seriously.
