New Mexican students can grow and learn anywhere in this State when given the opportunity. Colleges and Universities across New Mexico are celebrating increased enrollment growth, with some bigger schools showing upwards of a three percent increase. Northern New Mexico College is pleased to announce we have seen four times that growth, with this semester’s enrollment increasing by 12 percent in both the number of students attending and its Full Time Equivalent calculation, which indicates how many students would be attending if all were enrolled full time. Fall enrollment is at 1229 students and 772 Full Time Equivalents. The increased enrollment shows that Northern is the college of choice for a growing number of students, here and across the State.
Not only is Northern seeing tremendous enrollment growth, but we are meeting the needs of our communities and the needs of the State, with the largest jump in enrollment being in our Teacher Education Department which saw a 32 percent increase. The Española Valley and all of Northern New Mexico know firsthand the drastic impact that teacher shortages are creating in rural K-12 education in all of our communities, so to see program growth like this at Northern is tremendous. Not only is Northern’s Teacher Education Department the fastest growing in the State, with effective partnerships with all of our local school districts, we are helping ensure that all of the children of Northern New Mexico are getting the education they need and deserve.
We look forward to continuing these strong partnerships to ensure that we are putting highly trained teachers in our classrooms.
Communities across New Mexico also know firsthand the impacts of lack of access to quality healthcare, which is driven in part by lack of qualified staff, particularly in rural areas. Again, Northern is leading the charge to address these needs, driven by a 9 percent enrollment increase in our Department of Nursing and Health Sciences. Our last cohort of nursing students at Northern passed their licensing examinations with a 100 percent success rate, so not only are we bringing in more students, they are demonstrating they are highly qualified and ready to serve our communities immediately upon graduation. These are just a few of the exciting examples of the work Northern is doing to build on its legacy of service and to grow our next generation of student leaders in our communities.
This growth is led by a rejuvenated sense of commitment to student success at all levels of the College. Students, faculty, staff, and administration are all coming together to do their part and make Northern shine in our community. Whether it is the revitalization of the Sostenga Farm that is growing fresh produce to serve the needs of our food pantry and other campus food offerings, the growth of student media and art productions like the student-produced Every Student Podcast, or any of the myriad vibrant things going on across campus, there is a palpable sense of community and shared vision at the College that is laying the strategic course for Northern into the future. This is all reflected in the tremendous growth we are seeing in our student population.
We are so excited about the possibilities to come; and most importantly, we are so excited to support the dreams and aspirations of these new students as we welcome them to the Northern community.