Colleges in New Mexico address their plans for fall semester

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – College students across the state want to know what to expect this upcoming fall. Will it be distance learning again? Or will they be back on campus?

Officials with the University of New Mexico said their plans for the fall semester are still being finalized, with classes scheduled to start on August 17.

“We are planning for a hybrid in-person and online model for the fall,” said Cinnamon Blair, the Chief Marketing and Communication Officer with UNM. “That is our hope but of course safety and the well being of our community is the priority for all of these things.”

She said it all depends on how the pandemic progresses and what the state health guidelines are. However, they hope to limit the number of students for in-person courses and also plan on keeping dorms and buildings open on campus with a limited capacity.

Meanwhile, New Mexico State University announced a couple of weeks ago they plan on having face-to-face classes this fall. They will allow students to take the courses online if they feel more comfortable doing that. John Floros, who is the president of the university said, similar to UNM, they also plan on limiting the number of people in the dorms and buildings on campus.

“We’re going to exercise social distancing, the six feet or more. We’re going to request people wear masks if this is still in place by then,” said Floros. “We’re going to have things like one-way doors and one-way quarters and one-way hallways.”

Western New Mexico University informed their students last month they plan on having smaller face-to-face classes with the option of taking courses online.

Central New Mexico Community College said they’ll announce their official fall semester schedule on June 1 which will most likely offer online courses and some hands-on courses, and Eastern New Mexico University said they’ll announce their plans on July 15. While New Mexico Tech announced on Tuesday afternoon they plan on offering online and on-campus instruction for this upcoming fall. 

As far as enrollment goes, each college said it’s too early to tell how that will look, and won’t know until it gets closer to the first day of class. Each school said their summer sessions are all online and that the cost of tuition for their schools has not changed due to the pandemic.