University of New Mexico regent : 'We want to be able to provide good quality services for our students'

Education
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The UNM administration is proposing an increase in tuition. | Unsplash/Javier Trueba

The University of New Mexico (UNM) administration is proposing an increase in tuition to give the school more funding for campus improvements and health initiatives.

“If we did no tuition increase, what would that mean as far as those requests? The answer is we would cut them by 73%,” a presenter said at a recent Board of Regents Committee of the Whole meeting on March 31, according to a KRQE report.

The administration said it needs more than $20 million in new funding to increase safety, enhance mental health services and boost employee pay, according to an April 4 report on KRQE. If the proposal passes, students can anticipate higher fees and a 3% tuition increase, the article said, adding that branch campuses would be exempt from the new tuition costs.

The tuition increase also would not impact UNM students whose tuition and fees are fully covered by scholarships but those who pay their own tuition would see an increase of $500 in 2024, according to KRQE. The university said it would target some of the additional money to awarding a 6% salary increase to certain staff and faculty.

“We want to be able to provide good quality services for our students. We want to be able to provide competitive salaries for faculty,” UNM regent Jack Fortner said in the news report.

An estimated $3 million would be used to fund initiatives such as cameras and boosted security at student housing; improvements to campus parking; and new or expanded mental health initiatives.

Fortner said in the article he is still weighing the pros and cons of this proposal, saying “Raising tuition is never the optimum way to raise money, sometimes it’s the necessary evil."

According to the article, the university faces a May 11 deadline to submit its budget to the state, which regents are hoping to meet by considering the plan at a meeting on Monday, April 10. In addition to tuition increases, the budget also would benefit from anticipated state revenue.

Enrollment has been up at UNM since the state introduced the opportunity scholarship for in-state undergrads last year.