The University of New Mexico continued its multi-year enrollment growth this fall, adding students at the Central Campus while University officials plan for increasing pressure on housing, advising, faculty and classroom space.
UNM’s Albuquerque campus reached 24,584 students in Fall 2026, a 2.6% increase from 23,955 students last year, while enrollment across all UNM campuses rose to 29,131, nearly 3% higher than in Fall 2025.
Dan Garcia, vice president for enrollment management at UNM, said the growth has been driven primarily by undergraduate students. UNM enrolled 3,792 new first-year students this fall, just 23 fewer than the record 3,815 enrolled in 2025. Since 2019, when the University enrolled 2,592 first-year students, the size of that class has grown by roughly 46%. Garcia said larger incoming classes have a cumulative effect because students who remain enrolled continue into their sophomore and junior years, lifting total enrollment over time. He also credited improved persistence: UNM’s third-semester retention rate reached 79% this fall, up from 76.4% last year, while the six-year graduation rate fell from 54.2% to 51.1%.
Out-of-state enrollment has become another significant part of UNM’s recruitment strategy. This fall, 83.7% of first-year students came from New Mexico while 16.3% came from elsewhere. Among nonresident first-year students, 2.3% were international, down from 5% in Fall 2025.
Garcia said changes to nonresident scholarship offerings contributed to fewer applications and enrollments from outside New Mexico, something his office is seeking to remedy. “We’re looking at some additional efforts to create some new scholarships,” Garcia said.
Transfer enrollment from outside New Mexico moved in the opposite direction. UNM enrolled 492 nonresident transfer students this fall, an increase of 55 students, or 12.5%, from last year.
International enrollment remained nearly unchanged overall. Garcia said international recruitment remains a priority despite visa appointment difficulties and broader national uncertainty affecting international students.
As a Hispanic-Serving Institution, UNM also continues to enroll a majority-Hispanic first-year class. Hispanic students represented 52.5% of new first-year students this fall, down from 54.5% in 2025. American Indian students increased from 4% to 5.1% of the incoming cohort, while Asian American students increased from 3.7% to 3.9%.
Growth has required UNM to add resources. Garcia said the University has increased academic advising staff and expects further demand as it pursues a plan to double enrollment in Health Sciences Center programs over the next decade.
Some academic programs have grown faster than others. Garcia said Film and Digital Arts has “grown tremendously,” while nursing has expanded following adoption of direct admission, which allows students to enter UNM already connected to the nursing program rather than applying after completing prerequisite coursework. Business programs have also attracted more students even as graduate enrollment overall has remained relatively flat.
At the same time, UNM is preparing for a projected decline in the number of New Mexico high school graduates. Garcia described a coming “demographic cliff” tied to lower birth rates following the 2008 Great Recession. He said projections suggest the state could lose roughly 12% of its high school graduates over the next decade, declining from about 21,000 to 18,000.
Garcia said UNM remains well positioned to compete for those students. This year, 52% of New Mexico residents offered admission ultimately enrolled, he said.
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For UNM, the challenge is increasingly shifting from attracting more students to successfully sustaining that growth without overwhelming the University’s infrastructure.
“As we continue to see enrollment grow, the institution as a whole is recognizing some of those constraints,” Garcia said.
George Slad is a freelance photographer for the Daily Lobo. He can be reached at photo@dailylobo.com or on X @SladGeorge
