Public · Las Cruces, NM

New Mexico State University-Main Campus

11,733 full-time students in fall 2024 and college-controlled housing for 3,332: about 28.4 beds for every 100 full-time students. The other 8,401 live somewhere the college doesn't control. That is the outer edge of the private market, before you take out commuters and students living with family.

3,332 college-controlled beds (28.4 per 100 full-time) 8,401 full-time students beyond them
15,408total students, fall 2024
11,733full-time
$6,506typical housing charge, 2024-25 academic year
$14,052aid office off-campus food and housing budget

Enrollment

Of 15,408 students enrolled in fall 2024, 12,507 were undergraduates and 2,901 graduate students. 24% studied exclusively online, students who don't need a bed near campus. Headcount rose by 629 from fall 2023 (+4.3%).

Housing the college controls

IPEDS counts 3,332 beds of institutionally controlled housing for 2024-25. That figure is the school's own capacity, on or off campus, so it includes halls the college leases or manages but not private buildings that simply market to students. Capacity grew by 63 beds from the year before (3,269 in 2023-24).

What students pay

The typical 2024-25 housing charge for a student sharing a room was $6,506 for the academic year, roughly $723 a month spread over nine months. Food added $5,776. For aid purposes the school budgets $12,282 for food and housing on campus and $14,052 for a student living off campus away from family, $1,770 more.

Those are the college's own figures. Private by-the-bed rents near campus can sit well above or below them, so check current asking rents before you underwrite a project.

How lenders read a campus like this

With 15,408 students, most of them full-time, the campus clears the 10,000-student minimum in Fannie Mae's Multifamily Guide for Dedicated Student Housing (Part III, Chapter 1, section 103.01, effective September 28, 2026). Under sections 103.01 and 103.03 a property still has to sit within 2 miles of the campus boundary or near a college-run transit line, have operated a full school year, and lease at least 80% of units for 12 months.

To size a specific property, use the student housing loan sizer. It works by the bed and shows which constraint sets the loan.

Among the 2 New Mexico campuses on this site, New Mexico State University-Main Campus ranks number 2 by full-time students beyond college housing. See the New Mexico table.

Source: Fall 2024 enrollment, IPEDS DRVEF2024 (provisional release, December 2025); 2024-25 housing capacity and charges, IPEDS COST1_2024 (December 2025); IPEDS HD2025 directory (July 2026). Beds per 100 and the gap are arithmetic on those figures.
MeasureValue
Total enrollment, fall 202415,408
Total enrollment, fall 202314,779
Full-time students11,733
Undergraduates (full-time)12,507 (10,173)
Graduate students2,901
Exclusively online24%
College-controlled housing capacity, 2024-253,332
Capacity, 2023-243,269
Beds per 100 full-time students28.4
Typical housing charge, academic year$6,506
Typical food charge, academic year$5,776
Aid budget, food and housing on campus$12,282
Aid budget, food and housing off campus$14,052
All first-time, full-time students required to live in college housingNo
Combined food and housing charge (if not split)not reported

IPEDS unit ID 188030. Dona Ana County. School website. Figures are as the institution reported them to the National Center for Education Statistics. The live-on question asks whether every first-time, full-time student must live in college housing; a school with exemptions or a later-year requirement can answer no. How this data is built.