Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
PORTALES — Three years ago, Eastern New Mexico University set a fall enrollment record at 6,027, and the following year came close to another at 6,015.
This year, with the university going online for the fall semester out of COVID-19 pandemic concerns, the numbers have taken an unsurprising drop.
Patrice Caldwell, interim chancellor for ENMU’s three-campus system and president of the Portales campus, told The News the Portales enrollment is at 5,260 — down 7.5% from the 2019 enrollment of 5,694.
Caldwell noted in an email the biggest drops came from first-time freshmen and high schoolers taking dual enrollment. The undergraduate headcount helped stem the tide a little with a 9.7% increase — 1,340 in 2020 compared to 1,221 last year. Overall, credit hour production is down 4.8% with 51,419 credit hours compared to 53,989 last year.
“Many students are stopping out from college,” Caldwell said, “because of reservations about online instruction or worry about funding their college education.”
Just to the north, Clovis Community College has seen enrollment drops as well. The college opted to go virtually to start the 16-week period and the first of two eight-week periods.
“My team and I have been working hard to increase our College enrollment or be on par,” CCC President Charles Nwankwo wrote in an email. “Unfortunately, CCC’s enrollment headcount is down 775 students compared to the same time last fall semester (2,367 this year versus 3,142 in 2019).”
The second eight-week period, referred to by Nwankwo as a “second start,” begins on Oct. 19 and CCC is taking enrollments now. The college, Nwankwo said, is optimistic it can add another 300 to 400 students during that period.
The University of New Mexico reported a 2.5% enrollment drop, but noted an increase of 7.5% in its freshman class.
Caldwell said she was surprised by UNM’s freshman numbers. She believes it may be attributable to Albuquerque students staying home instead of going out of state, but she didn’t know for sure if that was the case.
