Data Visualization Narrative: 

Enrollment  

The dashboard provides an overview of enrollment, student credit hours, and student/faculty demographics at New Mexico State University's Las Cruces Campus, including the Main and NMSU-Global campus, for Fall 2025. The data shows an increase in overall enrollment from 15,408 in Fall 2024 to 16,076 in Fall 2025, with student credit hours also rising from 184,974 to 193,924.5 over the same period. 

The dashboard highlights the percentage of Native American enrollment, with the Native American student population slightly increasing from 6.6% in Fall 2024 to 6.7% in Fall 2025 when measured by the Native American Indicator. However, by the IPEDS reporting category, which accounts for students who may report multiple races or Hispanic ethnicity, the Native American representation remains low at 2.5% in Fall 2025, down from 2.6% in the previous year. 

Additionally, the dashboard displays the percentage of underrepresented minorities (URM) among faculty and students. For Fall 2025, 67.3% of students are classified as URM, a increase from 66.1% in Fall 2024, while 32.7% are non-URM. Among faculty, 32.7% were identified as URM in Fall 2025, and 33.1% in Fall 2024. 

Retention Rates

The dashboard provides an analysis of the first-to-second year retention rates for first-time full-time degree-seeking freshmen at New Mexico State University's Las Cruces Campus, including the Main and NMSU-Global campus, comparing the Fall 2023 and Fall 2024 cohorts. The overall retention rate increased from 73.3% for the Fall 2023 cohort (1,734 of 2,365 students retained) to 75.1% for the Fall 2024 cohort (1,755 of 2,338 students retained). 

The retention gap analysis, segmented by race/ethnicity and first-generation status, shows that for the Fall 2024 cohort, White students had a retention rate of 79.0%, above the overall rate. Hispanic students had a retention rate of 74.1%, slightly below the overall retention rate with 4.9% gap. However, Black students had slightly lower retention rate of 72.2%, resulting in a 6.8% gap, and Native American students had the lowest retention rate at 62.5%, with a 16.5% gap. 

For first-generation students in the Fall 2024 cohort, the retention rate was 68.5%, which is 11.0% below the overall retention rate. In contrast, students who were not first-generation or whose first-generation status was unknown had a higher retention rate of 79.4%, with no gap relative to the overall retention rate. 

4-Year Graduation Rates

The dashboard provides an analysis of the 4-year graduation rates for first-time full-time degree-seeking freshmen at New Mexico State University's Las Cruces Campus, including the Main and NMSU-Global campus, focusing on the Fall 2020 and Fall 2021 cohorts. The overall 4-year graduation rate increased from 33.0% for the Fall 2020 cohort to 34.4% for the Fall 2021 cohort. 

The graduation rate gap analysis, segmented by race/ethnicity and first-generation status, shows that White students in the Fall 2021 cohort had the highest graduation rate at 39.9%, with no gap relative to the overall rate. In contrast, Hispanic students had a graduation rate of 33.1%, resulting in an 6.8% gap, while Native American and Black students had significantly lower graduation rates of 16.4% and 19.4%, respectively, with gaps of 23.5% and 20.5%. 

For students classified by first-generation status, The Unknown or Not First Generation had a graduation rate of 37.9%, with no gap relative to the overall rate. However, first-generation students had a lower graduation rate of 28.3%, resulting in a 9.6% gap. 

6-Year Graduation Rates

The dashboard provides an analysis of the 6-year graduation rates for first-time full-time degree-seeking freshmen at New Mexico State University's Las Cruces Campus, including the Main and NMSU-Global campus, focusing on the Fall 2018 and Fall 2019 cohorts. The overall 6-year graduation rate decreased from 55.2% for the Fall 2018 cohort to 53.6% for the Fall 2019 cohort. 

The graduation rate gap analysis, segmented by race/ethnicity and first-generation status, reveals that White students in the Fall 2019 cohort had the highest graduation rate at 60.1%, with no gap relative to the overall rate. Native American students had a graduation rate of 37.5%, resulting in a 22.6% gap. In contrast, Black had significantly lower graduation rates with 30.6% and 29.6% gap, while Hispanic students had 51.5%, slightly lower rate compared to overall rate, creating gap of 8.6% respectively. 

For students categorized by first-generation status, The Unknown or Not First Generation had a graduation rate of 56.7%, with no gap relative to the overall rate. However, first-generation students had a lower graduation rate of 44.0%, resulting in an 12.7% gap.  

R1 Classification

The dashboard presents key metrics related to the Carnegie R1 classification criteria for New Mexico State University's Las Cruces Campus, including the Main and NMSU-Global campus. These metrics include research expenditures, doctoral degrees awarded, and postdoctoral appointments. For 2025 fiscal year, NMSU reported $134,852,000 in research expenditures from external sources, a critical factor in maintaining and advancing the university's research capabilities. Additionally, the number of doctoral degrees awarded in research and scholarship increased from 90 in 2024-25 to 94 in 2025-26. In Fall 2025, the university had 64 postdoctoral appointments. These indicators are essential for assessing NMSU's progress toward meeting the Carnegie R1 classification, which recognizes institutions with the highest levels of research activity.