Although, New Mexico State University offers their students online courses, the university has started to transition toward a nontraditional classroom and learning setting by expanding their Distance Education and offering students a way to earn their degree through an online program.

NMSU renders a program called, 2+2, which allows students to complete a bachelor’s degree without ever having to step foot on a physical campus. The way the program works, is students complete two years at NMSU’s Alamogordo campus online. Those credits transfer to NMSU’s main campus, making it more convenient for students to finish their degree online without requiring them to retake those classes.

Through Distance Education, students are given the opportunity of completing their graduate degree online, there are 10 master’s programs offered from NMSU that are available 100 percent online.

Students at New Mexico State University are eagerly adapting to this new style of learning because it allows them more freedom when working on their schoolwork.

Samantha Cisneros, a junior at NMSU said she enjoys the flexibility Distance Education allows her.

“I really enjoy online classes because I get to choose when I do my work and can plan things around my life,” Cisneros said. “I like that I’m not restricted to being somewhere at a certain time or day, it’s more convenient on my end.”

NMSU bills their students a course delivery fee (CDF) of $35 per credit hour for every online class they take in addition to the regular tuition and fee amounts they are required to pay to attend the university. This fee goes toward the costs of having online programs.

Some students oppose the fee and don’t think it is worth the extra cost. 

Hector Armendariz said he poses against the online fee.

“I don’t take online classes because I don’t think the fee is necessary. If we [students] are already paying for tuition, it seems unfair to me to pay more,” Hector Armendariz said. “How come we have to pay more, even though we won’t be utilizing all the facilities offered on the actual campus?”

The distribution from the CDF is distributed to the NMSU Albuquerque Center, who operates as an off-site campus facility and the Online Course Improvement Program who instructs faculty how to develop quality in their online courses.

The money from CDF is also dispersed to be used towards academic technology and instructional media services intended to make online learning easier and more efficient. These services provide workshops for faculty who are teaching and students who are taking distance education courses to help make the transition from a traditional classroom setting to a virtual learning environment.

Compared to neighboring and rival institutions, University of New Mexico charges $33.33 per online credit hour and University of Texas at El Paso is charging their students $50 per online credit hour.