UNM opens center to provide support for transfer students

The University of New Mexico has opened a new center focused on an often-overlooked yet significant subset of its students - those who have transferred to UNM from another institution.

The Transfer and Transition Student Center, located at the University Advisement and Enrichment Center (UAEC), Suite 170, Building #85, focuses on meeting the needs of transfer students, which make up about a third of the undergraduate population at UNM.

The center's grand opening and open house, hosted by the Office of Academic Affairs and the Office of Advising Strategies, took place Oct. 21, with remarks from UNM President Garnett Stokes, Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs James Holloway, other university leaders, and New Mexico Higher Education Department Secretary Stephanie Rodriguez.

The event kicked off National Transfer Student Week, which is Oct. 21-25. UNM events for the week can be found here.

Pamela Cheek, vice provost for student success, said this new center is an important part of UNM's continued efforts in growing our enrollment and improving the retention of students by making sure they have the support they need to succeed.

"In designing the center, we learned from many great local and statewide initiatives to support transfer students that have developed over the past decade," Cheek said.

"Major goals for the center are to provide direct guidance for students and to strengthen relationships between UNM and community college partners across the state. We know that students do best when UNM and partner institutions coordinate in offering signposts and support for the academic journey."

Sarah Dominguez, transfer pathways officer and dual-credit supervisor at UNM, said the center was created to provide a dedicated space and support resources to current and future students who come into the UNM Albuquerque campus from another college or university, another UNM campus, or through UNM's Dual Credit and Concurrent Enrollment Program.

She said that transfer students often have a lot of questions and may lack a sense of community since they are coming in with a different experience than UNM students who have followed the traditional path of joining UNM right after high school. The center will serve as a centralized resource to provide comprehensive support services to this population of students.

"Something like this didn't exist before," she said. "The center will be a first-stop shop for transfer and branch transition students. We may not be able to solve everything here, but we will help students make the right campus connections to help meet their needs and goals."

She said this may include helping students to identify an internship or a study abroad program or getting connected with faculty or undergraduate research programs.

"Transfer students often have a hard time accessing these kinds of important college enriching experiences," she said.

Some noteworthy numbers about UNM's transfer student population include:

• More than 40% of new undergraduates are transfer students.
• 51% of new transfer students come from another New Mexico institution, and another 4% come from branch campuses around the state (Gallup, Los Alamos, Taos or Valencia).
• More than one-third of transfer students attend UNM on a part-time basis.
• More than half of transfer students at UNM are Pell Grant recipients.
• More than 14% of transfer students drop out in their first semester at UNM (compared to 9% for first-time students) and only 73% are retained to the third semester (compared to 75% of first-time students). However, when transfer students make it to their second semester, they become less likely to drop out than first-time students.
• In fall 2024, there were more than 1,500 new transfer students, including transfers from in state, out of state, and branch campuses.

Services in the center will include a student lounge, open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday-Friday; in-person or virtual drop-in hours to meet with advising staff; and study groups for targeted populations, such as new transfer students in certain majors or courses.

The space is equipped with several tables and chairs for meetings and collaboration; a coffee, beverage and snack center equipped with a microwave and mini refrigerator for student use; and a large video screen to facilitate virtual meetings, presentations, announcements, and communication with UNM branch campuses and other institutions.

Serving students coming from UNM's four branch campuses is increasingly important. UNM's fall 2024 enrollment numbers showed a 36% increase in UNM branch campus transfers from the previous year.

"A big part of the center will be collaborating with our branch campus partners to better serve our branch transition students," Dominguez said. "For students at our branch campuses, it's more of a transition than a transfer, since they already are UNM students and are coming in with a lot more knowledge than a student from another institution. Branch campus students have different needs, and we want to give a sense through this center that we are one at UNM."

Also an important population the center will serve are dual-credit students, which include those in high school who are concurrently taking UNM courses for college credit.

"We want to go beyond simply facilitating the admission and registration process for dual credit students. We want to prepare them to have a successful transition to a higher educational environment, even if they don't choose to go to UNM," Dominguez said.

She said the ability to connect UNM's transfer student population in ways that were difficult before will be an important part of establishing community and better student outcomes.

"We would like to develop targeted study groups, where students in the same major or same class can get support and know that they are not alone," she said. "This would be especially useful for courses that have a high dropout or failure rate."

Future plans for the center include additional events and workshops, including partnerships with UNM's Center for Teaching and Learning and a closer partnership with CNM, such as offering traveling office hours there.

The new center will also aid in data acquisition. Dominguez said they have some data on transfer students, but they would like to collect more as well as track students over time to evaluate the impact of the Transfer and Transition Student Center's programs and services on student outcomes.

The Transfer and Transition Student Center staff can be reached by email at [email protected] or by phone at (505) 277-7000.

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