College Azimuth

Research brief & institution hub

University of New Mexico-Main Campus

NMLarge public institution · Overall rank #150 nationally

Data snapshot Updated

Azimuth places University of New Mexico-Main Campus in the 90th percentile nationally.

Who it’s a good fit for

The University of New Mexico-Main Campus is a public university in Albuquerque whose degree mix is led by Health Professions and Business, and where mobility is well above average. Graduates out-earn what predicts for students like them.

The model attributes more of that gain to the factors it measures — field of study, enrollment and the local labor market — than to what it cannot explain. An estimated share of graduates continue to graduate study, and the four-year earnings figure counts only graduates who are not enrolled.

Pell recipients complete at a rate below the entering cohort as a whole, a gap worth weighing against the university's well-above-average access and mobility standing. The lowest income band pays less than the published cost, while the highest band pays closer to it.

The admission rate is above the median for comparable institutions. A student drawn to the largest programs should know that Nursing graduates earn considerably more than those in Business Administration and Management or Psychology.

The highest-earning programs — Computer Engineering and Computer and Information Sciences — award far fewer degrees.

University of New Mexico-Main Campus at a glance

Admissions and outcomes

Admission rate[1]
95.2%
Six-year completion[2]
54.7%
Four-year earnings[3]
$59,818

Cost and family borrowing

Average annual net price · $48–75K family income[6]
$16,196
Median student debt[4]
$18,450
Median Parent PLUS debt[7]
$13,000

University of New Mexico-Main Campus rankings: how Azimuth assesses value[5]

University of New Mexico-Main Campus is a public university in Albuquerque, New Mexico, enrolling 17,244 undergraduates. Its composite standing sits in the top fifth of the Azimuth ranking among nonprofit four-year institutions (90th percentile).

The university admits 95.2% of applicants, well above the 78.1% median for comparable institutions of the same type and size. Of students who start full time, 76.2% return for a second year and 54.7% finish within six years.

Both figures run below the peer medians of 83.1% and 65.0%. An estimated 26.9% of entrants arrive as transfers or part-time students.

The four are not far apart, but mobility is the strongest, at the 89th percentile, and return is the weakest, at the 68th percentile. Access and affordability sit between them, at the 83rd and 82nd percentiles, respectively.

The shape is a broad-access public campus where the strongest pillar is mobility and the weakest is return.

Mobility is the university’s strongest Azimuth pillar, in the 89th percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions. Azimuth places University of New Mexico-Main Campus's access pillar in the 83rd percentile and affordability in the 82nd percentile.

Return is the weakest pillar at the 68th percentile. The pillar pattern is broad: mobility, access, and affordability all sit ahead of return.

38.7% of undergraduates at University of New Mexico-Main Campus receive Pell Grants, a measure of financial access at this public university in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Azimuth ranks University of New Mexico-Main Campus #255 for access among nonprofit four-year institutions.

The access pillar draws on the Pell share and on the completion rate for those students. Pell recipients in the first-time full-time cohort complete at 36.5%, which is 18.2 percentage points below the overall six-year graduation rate.

Azimuth ranks the university #159 for mobility. Graduates earn about $10,117 more than the model expects for similar students, and the mobility pillar captures that earnings outcome alongside the Pell completion rate and the Pell share.

How value-added outcomes are assessed · How to interpret program rankings

University of New Mexico-Main Campus rankings in context
GeographyRank
National#150

Azimuth overall value rankings within each geographic comparison group.

National pillar percentiles

Economic mobility
National percentile: 89
Access & reach
National percentile: 83
Affordability
National percentile: 82
Return on investment
National percentile: 68

Top-ranked majors

  1. Rhetoric and Composition/Writing Studies#13
  2. Family and Consumer Sciences/Human Sciences, General#16
  3. Allied Health Diagnostic, Intervention, and Treatment Professions#21

This school’s three highest-ranked programs nationally. Each rank compares bachelor’s programs in the same field; field sizes differ.

Explore major rankings

01 / University of New Mexico-Main Campus briefing

University of New Mexico-Main Campus cost & financial aid[6][7]

The University of New Mexico-Main Campus publishes a cost of attendance of $21,259. In its 2025-26 Common Data Set, the university reported in-state tuition of $11,585 and required fees of $1,640 for the the 2026-27 academic year.

On-campus food and housing is listed at $12,471. Out-of-state students face a published tuition of $34,734.

After grants and scholarships, the average net price for aid recipients is $15,489, which is $145 below the peer median of $15,634 for comparable institutions (same type and size). Financial aid reduces the published cost by an average of $5,770.

Azimuth ranks the university #258 for affordability among nonprofit four-year institutions.

Average net price, what aid recipients pay after grants and scholarships, is $11,938 for the lowest family-income band, $16,196 for the middle family-income band, and $19,053 for the highest family-income band at University of New Mexico-Main Campus. The published cost of attendance is $21,259, and the gap from the lowest to the highest band is $7,115, a difference between band averages rather than a family bill.

For affordability, Azimuth ranks the university #258 among nonprofit four-year institutions. For the average aid recipient, aid covers about 27% of the published cost, leaving an across all aid recipients of $15,489.

That average is $145 below the peer median of $15,634 at comparable institutions (same type and size). Financial aid savings average $5,770 against the sticker price, so the overall net price sits close to the comparable-school benchmark even as prices vary by income band.

Among borrowers who completed, median federal student loan debt at completion is $18,450, and 52.3% of federal aid recipients borrow federal loans. That figure is $1,626 below the peer median of $20,076 at comparable institutions (same type and size).

That debt corresponds to an estimated payment of $210 a month if repaid over ten years. Median Parent PLUS borrowing is $13,000.

Your family income

Choose a household income range to see estimated net price.

Reported average annual net price · $48–75K$16,196

After grants and scholarships. Your aid offer may differ.

Averages within each income band; individual aid packages vary.

Borrowing and repayment at University of New Mexico-Main Campus

For completers who borrowed federally, median federal student loan debt at completion is $18,450. That median is below the $20,076 median at comparable institutions (same type and size) by $1,626.

Parent PLUS borrowing, held by a separate parent-borrower population, has a median of $13,000. In its 2025-26 Common Data Set, the university reported 33% of graduates borrowed from any source, with an average cumulative amount of $21,660 per borrower.

This included 32% of graduates with federal loans averaging $18,863. It also reported 5% of graduates with private loans averaging $20,683.

At University of New Mexico-Main Campus, the investment picture is shaped by earnings that exceed the model's prediction and debt that runs below the peer median. Graduates earn about $10,117 more than the model expects for similar students, an outcome at the 83rd percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions.

Earnings scenarios, estimated from the program mix, stretch from $43,969 in a downside case to $89,311 in an upside case, with $59,818 as the typical outcome. The median four-year earnings of $59,818 sit at the 50th percentile.

On the borrowing side, the median federal student debt at completion is $18,450, $1,626 below the $20,076 median for comparable institutions (same type and size). That debt corresponds to an estimated payment of $210 a month if repaid over ten years.

Families considering parent borrowing should separate it from student loans: Parent PLUS borrowers had median borrowing of $13,000. For student borrowers, that debt corresponds to an estimated payment of $210 a month if repaid over ten years.

How Financial GPS measures payment burden · The four risk-and-reward zones

Financial GPS

What does repayment look like?

Institution median student debt
$18,450
Institution Parent PLUS debt
$13,000

Federal loans only; private or institutional loans aren’t included.

Estimated student payment · monthly
$210/mo
Estimated Parent PLUS payment · monthly
$165/mo

Payments use school-wide median balances, not a specific major’s.

Payment assumptions

Payments are 10-year standard payments on the median balance, before loan fees, used as a yardstick. Rates for newly issued loans may differ, and loans made after July 1, 2026 can repay over a longer term; existing loans keep their original fixed rates.

Explore your own numbers in Financial GPS
Read the full cost & aid brief

02 / University of New Mexico-Main Campus briefing

University of New Mexico-Main Campus career outcomes & earnings[3][8][9]

At University of New Mexico-Main Campus, the model-based return picture is stronger than the schoolwide earnings median alone suggests. Graduates earn about $10,117 more than the model expects for similar students, placing earnings beyond expectations—the gap between graduate earnings and the model’s expectation for similar students—in the 83rd percentile.

Azimuth places the return pillar in the 68th percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions. The part the model attributes to the factors it measures (field of study, enrollment and the local labor market) adds $8,357.

The part it attributes to a remainder it does not explain adds $1,760. Median earnings four years after completion are $59,818, in the 50th percentile.

The peer median, the middle value for comparable institutions (same type and size), is $65,610; the school’s figure is $5,792 below it. The model and peer comparison point in different directions.

At University of New Mexico-Main Campus, graduates have median earnings of $59,818 four years after completion, placing them near the middle among nonprofit four-year institutions. The measure covers 4,153 federally aided completers who were working and not enrolled; Azimuth places it in the 50th percentile.

Graduates earn about $10,117 more than the model expects for similar students. Earnings beyond expectations, the gap between what graduates earn and what the model expects for similar students, falls in the 83rd percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions.

Earnings scenarios show $43,969 on the downside, $59,818 as typical, and $89,311 on the upside. An estimated 33.8% of graduates continue to graduate study, a figure estimated from the program mix. The middle-range earnings median sits alongside higher-than-expected earnings.

The University of New Mexico-Main Campus posts a median of $59,818 for federally aided graduates four years after completion. That figure is $5,792 below the $65,610 median for comparable institutions (same type and size).

Azimuth ranks the university #465 for return among nonprofit four-year institutions. Graduates earn about $10,117 more than the model expects for similar students.

That places the gap at the 83rd percentile. The part the model attributes to the factors it measures (field of study, enrollment and the local labor market) adds $8,357.

The part it attributes to a remainder it does not explain adds $1,760. Within the measured factors, the STEM component adds $1,345.

The earnings scenarios, estimated from the program mix, range from a downside of $43,969 to an upside of $89,311. An estimated 33.8% of graduates continue to graduate study, based on the program mix.

Earnings vary widely by field at University of New Mexico-Main Campus, from a downside scenario of $43,969 to an upside scenario of $89,311, with a typical scenario of $59,818. These are earnings scenarios from the program mix, not observed groups.

At University of New Mexico-Main Campus, borrowers who completed had median federal student loan debt of $18,450. That is below the $20,076 peer median for comparable institutions (same type and size) by $1,626.

That debt corresponds to an estimated payment of $210 a month if repaid over ten years. For aid recipients, average net price, what aid recipients pay after grants and scholarships, varies by family-income band: $11,938 for the lowest band, $13,045 for the next band, $16,196 for the middle band, $17,906 for the next-highest band, and $19,053 for the highest band.

Graduates earn about $10,117 more than the model expects for similar students. Lower borrower debt and higher-than-expected earnings point the same way, though the amount aid recipients pay differs across income bands.

What explains value-added earnings?
Program & institutional factors The part attributed to observed institutional characteristics.
+$8,357
Unexplained remainder What remains after the model’s observed factors.
+$1,760
Total modeled value added The modeled difference from expected earnings.
+$10,117

These are statistical model components, not proven causal effects; the remainder is not a direct measure of teaching quality.

Read the full outcomes brief

03 / University of New Mexico-Main Campus briefing

University of New Mexico-Main Campus acceptance rate & admissions[1][10][11]

At 95.2%, University of New Mexico-Main Campus admitted most applicants in its reported entering-class pool. That rate is above the median of 78.1% for comparable institutions (same type and size).

SAT: reported composite scores
Admission rate
95.2%
25th percentile
920
Median
1030
75th percentile
1170

CDS 2025-26 · enrolled first-year score submitters. This range is not an admission cutoff.

Read the full admissions brief

04 / University of New Mexico-Main Campus briefing

What are the largest majors at University of New Mexico-Main Campus?[12]

The highest-earning programs at University of New Mexico-Main Campus are concentrated in engineering and computing, and they are not the largest by degrees awarded. Computer Engineering leads with median earnings of $126,356 four years after completion, from 28 degrees awarded a year.

Computer and Information Sciences follows at $112,064, with 76 degrees awarded. Azimuth ranks it #44 nationally among nonprofit four-year institutions in its field.

The largest program is Business Administration and Management, at 460 degrees awarded and median earnings of $62,431. Nursing awards 420 degrees and its graduates earn $86,559 four years after completion.

Psychology, the third-largest at 398 degrees, sits at the moderate end with median earnings of $46,693.

At University of New Mexico-Main Campus, bachelor's degrees cluster in Health Professions (17.5%), Business (12.8%) and Psychology (11.1%). Azimuth ranks 32 programs nationally, with earnings data for 43 fields.

Business Administration and Management tops the list at 460 degrees a year, and Azimuth places it at #178 in its field, with median earnings of $62,431. Nursing follows with 420 degrees awarded, and Azimuth places it at #133 in its field, earning $86,559 four years after completion.

Azimuth places Computer and Information Sciences at #44 nationally in its field, with median earnings of $112,064 from 76 degrees awarded. Azimuth places Chemical Engineering at #69 in its field, with earnings of $96,810 from 47 degrees awarded. The best-paid fields are much smaller than the largest ones.

University of New Mexico-Main Campus awards degrees across 32 ranked programs, with earnings data available for 43. The largest program families are Health Professions, at 17.5% of bachelor's degrees awarded, and Business, at 12.8%.

Psychology follows at 11.1%. The largest single program is Business Administration and Management, with 460 degrees awarded a year.

Azimuth ranks it #178 nationally within its field and #1 in New Mexico. Nursing is the second-largest program, awarding 420 degrees.

Its graduates earn $86,559, and the program ranks #133 nationally and #2 in New Mexico. The highest-ranked program is Rhetoric and Composition/Writing Studies, which Azimuth places #13 nationally within its field.

It awards 84 degrees a year, and graduates earn a median of $56,244. The highest-earning program is Computer Engineering, a smaller program at 28 degrees awarded, where graduates earn $126,356.

Strength is concentrated in health and technical fields. Allied Health Professions ranks #21 nationally with earnings of $84,858, and Computer and Information Sciences carries a benchmark ratio of 1.21x against the national median for its field. Across all programs, 18.1% of degrees awarded are in STEM fields.

Four-year earnings · six largest reported fields
Business Administration, Management and Operations 460 degrees awarded
$62,431
Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing 420 degrees awarded
$86,559
Psychology, General 398 degrees awarded
$46,693
Biology, General 205 degrees awarded
$51,987
Liberal Arts and Sciences, General Studies and Humanities 172 degrees awarded
$47,770
Teacher Education and Professional Development, Specific Levels and Methods 105 degrees awarded
$50,231

Fields selected by reported completions. Counts describe credentials awarded, not unique students or the earnings sample. Bars show median four-year earnings.

Read the full majors brief

05 / University of New Mexico-Main Campus briefing

How does University of New Mexico-Main Campus serve students from different backgrounds?

Mobility is a relative strength at University of New Mexico-Main Campus. Azimuth puts the mobility pillar in the 89th percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions.

For the first-time full-time cohort, the six-year graduation rate is 54.7%, while Pell recipients complete within six years at 36.5%, below the overall rate by 18.2 percentage points. Graduates earn about $10,117 more than the model expects for similar students, placing earnings beyond expectations, the gap between what graduates earn and what the model expects for similar students, in the 83rd percentile. Strong modeled earnings sit alongside a completion gap for Pell recipients.

Broad entry and a sizable Pell Grant population define access at University of New Mexico-Main Campus, where the admission rate is 95.2%. The public university enrolls 17,244 undergraduates; 38.7% receive Pell Grants, and an estimated 26.9% enter as transfers or part-time students.

Azimuth places its access pillar in the 83rd percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions. That standing pairs broad admission with enrollment that includes both Pell Grant recipients and transfer entrants.

06 / University of New Mexico-Main Campus briefing

What colleges are similar to University of New Mexico-Main Campus?[15]

Azimuth groups alternatives by admissions, location, cost and earnings, then orders candidates within each group. Peer earnings use the matched four-year cohort. How matching works.

A shortlist for different decisions

Choose a row to compare the figures with University of New Mexico-Main Campus.

Admissions peerMaryville University of Saint Louis95.1% admitted
Comparison with University of New Mexico-Main Campus
MeasureUniversity of New Mexico-Main CampusMaryville University of Saint Louis
Peer earnings · 4 years$59,818$84,871+$25,053 vs University of New Mexico-Main Campus
Average annual net price$15,489$22,066+$6,577 vs University of New Mexico-Main Campus · higher cost
Admission rate95.2%95.1%
Explore Maryville University of Saint Louis →
Nearby alternativeUniversity of Louisiana at LafayetteNearby option · LA
Comparison with University of New Mexico-Main Campus
MeasureUniversity of New Mexico-Main CampusUniversity of Louisiana at Lafayette
Peer earnings · 4 years$59,818$58,638-$1,180 vs University of New Mexico-Main Campus
Average annual net price$15,489$13,530-$1,959 vs University of New Mexico-Main Campus · lower cost
Admission rate95.2%87.0%
Explore University of Louisiana at Lafayette →
Higher-earnings alternativeOregon Institute of Technology$87,138 earnings
Comparison with University of New Mexico-Main Campus
MeasureUniversity of New Mexico-Main CampusOregon Institute of Technology
Peer earnings · 4 years$59,818$87,138+$27,320 vs University of New Mexico-Main Campus
Average annual net price$15,489$15,706+$217 vs University of New Mexico-Main Campus · higher cost
Admission rate95.2%95.0%
Explore Oregon Institute of Technology →
Lower-cost alternativeCUNY Lehman College$3,148 average net price
Comparison with University of New Mexico-Main Campus
MeasureUniversity of New Mexico-Main CampusCUNY Lehman College
Peer earnings · 4 years$59,818$63,353+$3,535 vs University of New Mexico-Main Campus
Average annual net price$15,489$3,148-$12,341 vs University of New Mexico-Main Campus · lower cost
Admission rate95.2%56.6%
Explore CUNY Lehman College →
Similar profileSam Houston State UniversityMatched across several measures
Comparison with University of New Mexico-Main Campus
MeasureUniversity of New Mexico-Main CampusSam Houston State University
Peer earnings · 4 years$59,818$57,044-$2,774 vs University of New Mexico-Main Campus
Average annual net price$15,489$16,404+$915 vs University of New Mexico-Main Campus · higher cost
Admission rate95.2%90.3%
Explore Sam Houston State University →

Each school is the first-ranked match in its category, not a recommendation across every measure. The same college may lead more than one category. Figures use the matching snapshot; earnings reflect the matched four-year cohort. — means unavailable.

Read the full similar schools brief

Data scope & methodology

Structured payloads generated Governed hub narrative Governed spoke corpus

Four-year earnings describe cohorts of completers. Figures for other horizons describe different cohorts and are not joined into a career-growth projection.

Azimuth's overall rank and pillar percentiles come from the school profile. Absolute pillar ranks, city, enrollment and official-site links are shown only when structured data supplies them.

Detailed earnings, cost, admissions and program values come from the endpoint responsible for each measure. Missing values are not replaced with zero. Value-added estimates are model associations, not causal effects.

Figures are refreshed with each data release, at most a quarter apart. The underlying source dates can be earlier than the release.

Explanatory text is AI-assisted drafting checked against those figures; it is not an additional data source.

Analysis and methodology by Daniel Rogers, founder of College Azimuth.

Read the ranking methodology, data definitions and limitations · About College Azimuth

Read the analysis behind value-added earnings and the change to four-year graduate earnings. These articles are published on collegeazimuth.com.

Data notes & source fields

Scorecard field codes identify the underlying measure; Azimuth-derived values are labeled separately. Snapshot dates are not measurement years. Source populations and reporting periods differ across measures. Field definitions are in the U.S. Department of Education · College Scorecard documentation; notes with a different source link it below.

  1. Admission rate. Reported applicants admitted; not a transfer-specific or individual admission probability.

    Source fields: ADM_RATE

  2. Six-year completion. First-time, full-time students completing at the institution within 150% of normal time, typically six years for a bachelor’s degree.

    Source fields: C150_4

  3. Four-year institutional earnings. Median earnings of graduates in the reported cohort who are working and not enrolled, four years after completion.

    Source fields: MD_EARN_WNE_4YR

  4. Median federal student debt. Federal student-loan debt among completers in the reported borrowing cohort. Excludes Parent PLUS and is not total debt across all students.

    Source fields: GRAD_DEBT_MDN

  5. National, regional and state ranks; pillar percentiles; major ranks. Derived scores within the stated eligible comparison set, not raw Scorecard fields. Major ranks compare institutions within a field; their denominators differ.

    Source fields: Azimuth rankings

    College Azimuth · Ranking methodology

  6. Annual net price by family income. Average annual cost after grants and scholarships for the eligible first-time, full-time aid-recipient cohort. Public-school figures reflect in-state tuition. Includes living costs; these are averages, not medians or individual offers.

    Source fields: NPT4_PUB/PRIV; NPT41_PUB/PRIV through NPT45_PUB/PRIV

  7. Parent PLUS debt, payments and GPS illustration. Stored payments use Financial GPS loan and repayment assumptions. The adjustable spectrum applies the published framework to annual student payments divided by earnings minus an expense allowance; its initial allowance uses the frozen 2024 framework baseline. It is an illustration rather than a school rating. Parent PLUS uses the completer median where available, otherwise the all-borrower median; these describe different borrowing populations.

    Source fields: PLUS_DEBT_ALL_COMP_MD; fallback PLUS_DEBT_ALL_MD; Azimuth Financial GPS calculations

    College Azimuth · Financial GPS methodology

  8. Downside and upside earnings; yellow band. The band spans the modeled lower and higher scenarios. It is not the P25–P75 interval for individual graduates. The median marker is the separately reported institutional median.

    Source fields: Azimuth modeled program-mix scenarios

    College Azimuth · Earnings scenario methodology

  9. Value added and its components. Observed-factor attribution plus the unexplained remainder equals total modeled value added. These are associations, not proven causal effects; the remainder is not a direct measure of teaching quality.

    Source fields: Azimuth statistical model

    College Azimuth · Value-added methodology

  10. SAT score range and reported midpoint. Reported scores of enrolled score-submitters, not admission cutoffs. The midpoint field is not necessarily the middle of the displayed range.

    Source fields: SATVR25 + SATMT25; SATVR75 + SATMT75; SAT_AVG

  11. First-year retention. Retention of the reported full-time cohort at four-year institutions.

    Source fields: RET_FT4

  12. Program earnings, completion counts and major-mix dots. Included bachelor’s programs have at least five reported completions. Counts are aggregated credentials, not unique people or an earnings sample. Major-mix dots group those counts by field of study; excluded programs are not zero activity.

    Source fields: EARN_MDN_4YR; IPEDSCOUNT1; CIPCODE

    College Scorecard · Field-of-study technical documentation

  13. Pell recipients. Share of undergraduates receiving a Pell Grant in the reported academic year.

    Source fields: PCTPELL

  14. Entering students outside the first-time, full-time group. This is not an observed transfer-in rate. It includes part-time entrants and other entering-student attendance patterns.

    Source fields: 1 − PFTFTUG1_EF

  15. Peer earnings and signed differences. Differences are peer minus this school, from the same matching snapshot. A positive earnings difference does not mean the peer is better on every measure.

    Source fields: Azimuth peer model using MD_EARN_WNE_4YR

    College Azimuth · Comparison methodology

How to interpret program rankings