High school grads choose to stay home

Graduates from Albuquerque high schools are increasingly attending UNM rather than schools out of state and simultaneously choosing to live off-campus, according to data provided by the offices of Enrollment Management and Student Housing.

Ten percent more Albuquerque high school graduates — including high schools in Rio Rancho — have attended UNM since the beginning of the recession, according to Enrollment Management. This is an increase from 1,517 in 2007 to 1,685 in 2009.

The increase in Albuquerque graduates at UNM coincides largely with the 5.6 percent enrollment increase seen campus-wide, said Terry Babbitt, associate director of the Office of Enrollment Management.

Also, the percentage of Albuquerque high school graduates in on-campus housing increased sharply between 2005 and 2007 but fell just as sharply between 2007 and 2009. In 2007, 44.5 percent of on-campus residents were from the Albuquerque metro area compared to 31.6 percent in 2009, according to Resident Life and Student Housing data.

In the same five-year period, 364 more students lived on campus.
Babbitt said while the recession may prompt Albuquerque seniors to opt out of leaving the Duke City for higher education, that doesn’t mean they’ll also choose to live off campus – with their parents or otherwise.
“If you’re a guy who’s looking at $30,000 a year in tuition and room and board (out of state) … you’re still saving money,” he said. “But that doesn’t mean you’re going all the way in staying here and staying at home. It’s kind of a more complicated economic question.”
Babbitt also said the majority of UNM’s record enrollment increase comes from out-of-state students who typically stay in residence halls.

“I think the economy impacts our enrollment in these times,” he said. “There’s no question, but the bulk in our growth … came from out of state places. Those people definitely stayed in the residence halls, so that’s a big thing for us economically.”
RLSH Director Patrick Call said the economy may have been a factor in the decrease of Albuquerque high school graduates living on campus, and RLSH data has shown students who live on campus get higher grade point averages.

“Enrollment has continued to go up, so I don’t know if these students chose to stay at home or chose to live somewhere else off campus,” he said. “Students who live on campus graduate at a higher rate and have a higher GPA. A lot of it plays into the type of community they live in and their ability to be on campus at all times.”
Joel Nossoff, director of Freshman Learning Communities at UNM, said that it’s debatable whether there’s a positive correlation between grades and place of residence.

“You can’t say for certain that that’s cause and effect,” he said. “There is a correlation between family income and grades. There is a correlation between family income and residence halls, and so we don’t know for sure if there’s a self-selection factor. If there’s a cultural factor that comes in, that creates that.”

However, Nossoff said living on campus encourages students to participate in extra-curricular activities and, especially, co-curricular activities, which he said are some of the most valuable experiences for college students.

“For commuter students, it is generally more of a challenge to become engaged in their education, and that is a factor which is very important for academic success,” he said.