PORTALES, N.M. – After nearly 90 years and thousands of students later, Eastern New Mexico University is getting a much-needed facelift. 

The university received $16 million from the state Legislature for campus improvements. $12 million, of which, is going towards the new Student Academic Support Services building. 

“That was part of a G.O. Bond project, and of course, when all of the construction costs doubled, post-pandemic were needed additional funding,” said Dr. James Johnston, president of Eastern New Mexico University. 

Construction on that project could start as soon as this fall. The rest of the money is going towards other improvements across the campus. 

“It was also equipment for our communicative disorders department. It will add equipment for that clinic that really provides service for speech, language, and audiology that a lot of our clients in that area would have to travel to Texas,” Johnston said. “Also, state-of-the-art equipment for the new Roosevelt Science Center that is nearing completion and will come back online at the end of this semester.” 

ENMU is also putting money toward instruction and the general fund. This has allowed students to attend without tuition and fee increases. 

“At Eastern, we have always been very mindful of the cost of higher education to our students. So we do as much with the funding we receive as we possibly can so that that increase was critically important,” Johnston said.  

He says ENMU wants to provide even more access and opportunity to higher education and to keep education affordable. 

“We certainly want to make that as attainable as we can. We don’t want our graduates to live in debt for four years after graduation,” said Johnston.