Freshman applications at UNM are up by 21 percent over last year.
The University had 8,569 freshman applicants for the fall semester of 2008, and there are 10,409 applications for the 2009 fall semester, according to the Office of Enrollment Management. Nineteen percent of the applicants are out-of-state or have non-resident status.
Carmen Alvarez Brown, vice president of Enrollment Management, said the increase in applications was caused by improved efficiency in the admissions department, due in large part to the newly constructed 'one-stop' financial aid, admissions and registration center in Mesa Vista Hall.
"We started sending e-mails to students that they've never seen before. We've generated more interest," she said. "The applications we've received came from across the country. There are people who actually value UNM education and actually want to come here."
Terry Babbitt, associate director of the Office of Enrollment Management at UNM, said the increase in applications will result in more money from the legislature by increasing the total number of credit hours, a variable in the state's funding formula.
"More credit hours means there are more students, people are taking higher loads, it's a combination of all those things," he said.
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Babbitt said UNM was able to increase the number of credit hours compared to the past academic year through better student recruitment and advertising classes.
Marc Saavedra, director of Government Relations, said in a July 3 interview that freshman enrollment doesn't garner as much money from the state legislature as graduate and upper-division enrollment.
"You're lower division courses, of course, don't generate as much money because they don't cost as much," he said. "When you get into your graduate level, that's where you generate most of your formula dollars ... This is important for UNM because we're the biggest research institution; therefore, we have the largest graduate student population in New Mexico."
Brown said the Office of Enrollment Management has done many things to increase number of credit hours taken at UNM. Brown said there has been a noticeable increase in efficiency through the use of technology, the Student Services and Support Center building and the one-stop admissions, financial aid and registration office. She said this led to increased enrollment and credit hours.
"One thing we've done is look at students who are taking maybe 12 credit hours and doing really well," Brown said. "We'll send out an e-mail and say, 'Hey, why don't you take another class this semester so you can get to graduation faster?' And we've really seen an increase in credit hours."
Brown said she doesn't think the increased number of applications is due to UNM's low tuition rate.
"We're doing really well," she said. "Some people would say sarcastically, 'Well, this is due to the economy.' I think there is a percentage due to that, but how do you account for the 19 percent non-resident and out-of-state?"
Pat Lohmann contributed to this article.
