NMSU Looks To Improve Dropping Freshman Retention Rates

LAS CRUCES, N.M. (AP) — Though freshman enrollment at the New Mexico State University keeps rising, freshman retention has dropped and university officials are looking to change that. The Las Cruces Sun-News reports (http://bit.ly/2e4vItz ) that this year, 71.3 percent of last year's freshmen returned to NMSU compared to 73.1 percent in the Fall 2015 semester, or about 40 fewer students returned. The slight decrease comes after the university has invested in programs to help guide freshman and sophomores through their programs. Executive Vice President and Provost Dan Howard told the Board of Regents on Wednesday that the university surveyed 181 first-year students who did not re-enroll this fall and found the majority of them reported they did not return for financial reasons. Howard says he is working with university staff to combat this issue.