University of
New Mexico-Main Campus
Public Research University in Albuquerque, NM. Six-year graduation rate 55%. Median 10-year earnings $44,792.
Students who entered University of New Mexico-Main Campus land at a median of $44,792 a decade later, close to what most four-year schools deliver. The six-year graduation rate is 55%, meaning about one in two students who start do not finish. Median debt at graduation is $18,450, roughly typical for an undergraduate degree. It also moves people — 2.0% of students climb from the bottom fifth of the income distribution to the top.
Earnings: College Scorecard, median ten years after entry across students who received federal aid — completers and non-completers alike.
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
Admissions
University of New Mexico-Main Campus admits 95% of applicants — effectively open admission, so the application is a formality rather than a hurdle. With 12,269 applications received, this is a school operating at national scale. Yield sits at 31% — the remainder of admitted students enroll elsewhere or not at all. 48% of enrolled first-years submitted an SAT score. The bands below describe the middle half of that group, not of the class.
Test score bands (middle 50% of submitters)
These bands describe the enrolled first-years who submitted a score, not the entering class. Where most students apply test-optional the submitters are a self-selected, higher-scoring group.
| Test | 25th–75th percentile | Submitted |
|---|---|---|
| SAT Evidence-Based Reading | 460–600 | 1,758 (48%) |
| SAT Math | 430–570 | |
| ACT Composite | 19–26 | 286 (8%) |
IPEDS Admissions · 2024
Apply at University of New Mexico-Main Campus →Academics
Six-year completion sits at 55%, meaning about one in two students who enroll leave without finishing. Retention of 76% means a meaningful slice of each entering class does not return. Retention and graduation track closely, so most of the attrition shows up in the first year rather than after it. The part-time picture is harder: 59% return, against 76% full-time. The 15:1 student-faculty ratio is small enough that seminar-sized classes are the norm.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 16,625 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Students pay an average of $6,347 annually, well below typical undergraduate net price. Income makes less difference than usual: $11,938 at $0–30k, $19,053 at $110k+. 89% of students get grant aid averaging $12,861, so the published price is a poor guide to what most pay. About 45% borrow federally, roughly the national pattern.
Entering first-year students
A different, smaller group than the rates above: full-time students in their first year of college anywhere. The grant series here also excludes the "other sources" counted in the all-undergraduate figure, so the two are not comparable.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · 3,548 students
Net price by family income
The same students as the headline above, limited to those who received Title IV federal aid — a narrower group, with a lower overall average. IPEDS publishes no combined figure across these bands, so they should not be averaged into one.
| Family income band | Average net price |
|---|---|
| $0–30k | $11,938 |
| $30–48k | $13,045 |
| $48–75k | $16,196 |
| $75–110k | $17,906 |
| $110k+ | $19,053 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 7,424 of these 16,625 students, totalling $20,050,612 — an average of $2,701 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Bernalillo County) — budget these against any cost-of-attendance housing estimate.
HUD Fair Market Rents (40th-percentile gross rent incl. utilities) · FY2026
Veterans & GI Bill
VA GI Bill Comparison Tool (Veterans Affairs GIDS)