Grants NMSU sees record enrollment

By Helen Davis
Cibola County Bureau

GRANTS — New Mexico State University, Grants Campus, reported record enrollment figures this academic year.

In tabulating the number of students making use of the campus, administrators consider two sets of numbers, said Chief Academic Officer Harry Sheski. In both the “head count,” or number of students considered on campus, and the Full Time Equivalent, the Grants campus has outdone itself this year, Sheski said.

Complete accurate counts will not be tabulated until the end of the spring semester to take into consideration the partial semester classes that start after the census date early in the semester. So far this spring, the campus counts 448 FTE students, up from the 446 in the fall before the additional late semester students are figured in. Last spring the final count for full time “equivalent” students was 423. The FTE count is the result of a complicated mathematical process and can indicate partial students; these reported numbers are rounded for clarity.

Sheski said the increase in student enrollment is probably the result of changes in four areas of college offerings or policies.

In the fall of 2007, the campus began a bachelor’s program in nursing. The BSN training accepted four students this academic year. Sheski explained that in addition to the active nursing students, the program has attracted those who expect to apply to the program in the future and need to complete the science prerequisites before they can apply to the BSN program.

Sheski said that the college recently expanded their Web CT, or online, education program. Members of the Grants campus faculty have been dedicated and creative in developing classes based at this campus, the academic officer said. These classes give local student flexibility in scheduling classes as well as making the classes available to students from other campuses. Sheski added that if a student from another campus enrolls in a Grants-sponsored class, the Grants branch would count the student as part of its enrollment.

The university’s dual enrollment program with local high schools has increased over eightfold in the last two years, Sheski said. Nearly 100 high school students now take college-level classes at the Grants campus, has fully admitted students, although the university waives tuition for the high school students.

The college has had an accredited corrections officer training program for five years, Sheski said. This academic year, the program formerly geared only to training officers for the Corrections Corporation of America women’s prison began offering training that includes officers interested in the New Mexico Department of Corrections men’s prison in Grants. Enrollment in the corrections officer program almost with the expansion, Sheski said.