Students enrolling in classes at Northern New Mexico College’s main campus for the upcoming fall semester will have fewer degree programs from which to choose.
Citing poor enrollment and various resource challenges, the Northern Board of Regents voted, July 14, to suspend admission into the bachelor’s degree programs in music and wildland fire, and the associate’s degree programs in police science and wildland fire science, for a total of four programs.
Provost Ivan Lopez-Hurtado recommended suspending the four programs based on an April review the academic chairs and Director’s Committee conducted. The Committee ultimately concluded that the programs have not attracted enough students in recent years to cover the respective instructional cost.
The previous provost, Pedro Martinez, placed the wildland fire and police science programs on unofficial moratoriums, but for some reason, didn’t get a chance to bring the matters before the regents, for their approval.
Lopez-Hurtado said it was important to take action before the school year started because if one student enrolled in either of the programs, Northern would be obligated to make sure they had an opportunity to graduate.
“We are recommending, right now, the suspension, not the termination, of four academic programs,” he said during his July 14 Board presentation. “These programs have shown very low enrollment and poor graduation rates. We need to understand the funding, right now, in New Mexico, is based on student completion of courses and programs and if we do not graduate students and have students enrolled in the programs, we do not get money. There is no funding in those programs.”
Northern President Rick Bailey stressed that all students currently enrolled in the disciplines slated for suspension will get a chance to finish their degrees.
According to the review report, the idea is to develop a teach-out plan for the programs in question, that involves revising the “curriculum to expedite the graduation of the current declared students.”
The summary of the April music degree review shows the program costs $188,255, but only generated $116,931 in tuition and fees from the seven students in the music program.
The program has a three-year graduation average of about 1.3 students.
“Therefore, the annual subsidy for the program is $71,324.85, which is not convenient under the current limited fiscal environment at Northern,” the review report, on which Lopez-Hurtado based his presentation, states.
Only four students registered for the wildland fire program during the 2016-2017 School Year, compared to the seven in the music program, during the same period.
The police science program has had a total of three students since 2012.
The Committee also cited staffing inconsistencies and potential issues with the quality of the instruction, as a reason for suspending the music degree program.
“More than four directors have overseen the program in the last six years,” the report states. “There is currently only one full-time faculty member with the appropriate credentials to teach the courses in the major. The number of full-time faculty member (sic) is a concern raised by the Higher Learning Commission (HLC) in 2016.”
Lopez-Hurtado discussed creating a bachelor’s of fine arts program, with several concentrations, including music. He said establishing that degree would give current and potential students more options for pursuing art degrees.
“I say, in the next six months, you are going to have me here proposing a bachelor of fine arts degree,” he said. “One of the problems the bachelor of music (degree) currently has, is the associate degrees in general arts do not articulate to music. For example, film and digital media students can’t continue to any bachelor program here at Northern and that is wrong.”
Although the provost believes it will be some time before Northern would have a program ready to present to the Higher Education Commission, the institution has hired two full-time instructors to help with curriculum development.
It could take up to a year before the new degree track is offered in the institution’s catalog of classes.
Despite his support for a music program, Lopez-Hurtado questioned the viability of the police science and wildland fire programs, considering they aren’t necessarily needed for one to find employment as a police officer or firefighter.
Student Regent Melinda DeHerrera, who serves on the Academic Affairs Committee, said the Committee supports the suspensions, especially since Lopez-Hurtado created a plan to fill any voids.
“We discussed it and saw the numbers and the outcomes and we agreed,” she said. “Just the fact that he is creating a bachelor in fine arts, where all the students enrolled in music can fall into. As long as we create programs to fill the empty slots, we aren’t taking anything away.”
The announcement to suspend the four under-performing programs comes about five weeks after school officials announced it was partnering with Santa Fe Community College to offer three degree programs at the Santa Fe Higher Education Center.
Starting this fall, Northern students can enroll in information engineering technology, business administration/project management and integrative studies/psychology at the Center.
The three programs will also be offered simultaneously on Northern’s main campus, using interactive technologies.