http://youtu.be/WzEEAnMQgL0
Students from Mexico visited New Mexico State University during the third annual "Día Descubre" recruiting event to tour the campus, learn more about the school’s programs and meet with teachers and student ambassadors.
17-year-old Melissa Rivero is a senior at Instituto La Salle in Chihuahua, Mexico. Rivero said she first heard about NMSU at her high school’s college fair two years ago and now it’s her top choice. Rivero said she plans to study physics or astronomy once she enrolls.
“Since I was like 10 years old, astronomy was one of my biggest interests. The stars... looking up in the sky was like amazing because I was like the only one in my class interested in that kind of stuff because it’s not that common you know? So, I want to achieve it to make my dreams come true," Rivero said. "Right now, I want to be a teacher so being a teacher in physics or astronomy is like my biggest dream because I like learning from a teacher so I want to become one.”
Plenty of parents got involved with learning about their children’s future school like Rogelio Monreal from Ciudad Juárez. Monreal and his family attended for his son who’s interested in studying aerospace engineering. Monreal said along with the school’s small student-to-faculty ratio, the diversity of students at NMSU compared to traditional colleges in Mexico is a plus.
“Because of my work experience... I’ve been able to work with people from across the world either by phone or physically face-to-face. So, that’s something that to me it came after I was working. So, it was a slower process in understanding that diversity and working with people across the world," Monreal said. "And at NMSU I think he’s going to be able to get that firsthand when he’s studying so by the time he comes to work or gets a job, that’s going to be second nature to him, working with people from across the world in different cultures.”
Hispanics make up 56 percent of NMSU’s student population according to fall 2018 enrollment data and the university is working to increase those numbers among its international students. Of the nearly 900 international students enrolled in the fall semester, 130 are from Mexico.
Rod McSherry, interim associate provost for international and border programs, said some challenges the university has in attracting students from Mexico include getting immigrant visas and related paperwork approved as well as the cost of tuition. To ease finances, McSherry said NMSU offers a special tuition rate for Mexican citizens.
“We call it the Descubre scholarship and what that is is Mexican citizens who meet our admissions requirements can come to school here and pay instead of twice the amount of what a New Mexico resident would pay, they would only pay 1.5 times what the New Mexico resident pays. So, we do find some way to offer incentive to come here, which makes us on par with some of the Mexican universities," McSherry said.
Tuition through the Descubre Program costs full-time undergraduate students from Mexico about $4,700 dollars per 15-credit semester while full-time graduate students pay about $4,000 per 12-credit semester.
While the event focused mostly on incoming freshman, college transfer students also took part in the day’s activities. Universidad Autónoma de Chihuahua junior Xavier Franco is looking to finish his bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering at NMSU through a joint program between the schools.
Franco and other Mexican students at the open house said having a degree from the U.S. is more prestigious than one from Mexico. He recommends incoming freshman to seriously consider what they want to study.
“I know it’s kind of hard at the time to come up with a decision since there’s a lot of things you can study or explore. But I think it’s you got to be honest with yourself at the time because it’s a very important decision for you and it’s got to be something you really enjoy or love doing because you’re mostly going to spend the rest of your life doing one of those things," Franco said. "So, my recommendation would be to do something because you like it, not because it’s high paying or because it sounds cool or whatever. It has to be a genuine passion for what you’re doing.”
From trade tariffs to an immigration policy separating families at the border to calls for a border wall, U.S.-Mexico relations have been strained under the Trump administration. Regardless of politics, McSherry said events like Día Descubre aim to make Mexican students feel welcome.
“That’s exactly one of the reasons why we do Día Descubre is to show them that here in the Borderlands and here at NMSU, regardless of what they might be hearing on TV or what they might be reading in the press, when they come here and they feel the welcome and they feel that there’s people just like them here... the rhetoric they’re hearing and the kind of exaggerated political discussion really doesn’t apply to here," McSherry said. "But so we’re doing our best to show who we are and present our case for people coming here from all over the world including Mexico.”
By hosting open houses like Día Descubre, NMSU officials said they hope Mexican students discover how the school can help broaden their horizons.
