Getting To Know: University of New Hampshire (UNH)-Again

Published by Stuart Nachbar at March 27, 2024

I honestly wonder why UNH does not get the interest that it should.

I understand, it’s not as high profile as other state schools that have stronger mystiques, especially if they play in a high-profile sports conference. But UNH checks a lot of boxes in terms of what many students want. It’s an attractive, less intimidating campus to navigate than most other flagships. UNH is about as close to Boston as Rutgers is to New York City, and closer to beaches and mountains, too. The sticker price is high as flagship state schools go. But It’s possible for your cost of attendance to be less than a private research university will charge for tuition and fees alone.

Actor Adam Sandler wore a UNH t-shirt in a 2010 movie, Grown Ups.

However, while Sandler is a New Hampshire native, he went to NYU. So, UNH cannot play on a relationship with this favorite son of the Granite State. The parents of prospective UNH students who are Red Sox fans might know that Hall of Fame catcher Carlton Fisk is a UNH alum. However, Fisk was drafted after his sophomore year and never graduated. Hockey Hall of Famer star Rod Langway also played for UNH. However, like Fisk, he didn’t graduate. This school could really use a spokesperson. Author John Irving went to UNH. But parents will know his works much better than prospective students. Five of Irving’s books were adapted for movies, but the last movie was aired two decades ago.

Admissions to UNH are more achievable than they are at UConn, UMass-Amherst, and the University of Vermont.

The acceptance rate has been over 85 percent for the past four cycles. That’s really high at a time when UConn, UMass-Amherst, and the University of Vermont have become more selective and attracted more out-of-state applicants. The university committed to test-optional admissions in Fall 2019, just before the Great Pandemic hit college campuses. Less than 40 percent of applicants to the Class of 2026 submitted scores. Among those who did, most submitted SATs. The middle 50 percent scred between 1130 and 1310. That’s below the ranges for UConn, UMass-Amherst and UVM as well as Rutgers-New Brunswick.

A “bread and butter” student at those larger state schools might be a candidate for the Honors College at UNH. The university is also moving from an honors program to an honors college, much like UMass-Amherst, UVM and Rutgers, expecting to welcome 250 to 300 students this fall. That will be about 10 percent of a freshman class. That’s about the same number of freshmen as Penn State-University Park, a school with over 40,000 undergrads, welcomes into the Schreyer Honors College each fall.

The “look and feel” of UNH is much like UConn.

Both universities have very walkable campuses, mascot statues by the main sports venue, and locally produced ice cream. The surrounding downtowns are smaller than students, employees and guests would expect from a flagship state school. I dropped a photo of downtown Durham below. It’s quaint and there are student-oriented coffee shops and dining places. But the selection is quite small for a college town.

Unlike most state universities, UNH and UConn house the majority of their students and off-campus living options are quite expensive nearby. Both have the same percentage of students engaged in Greek life (14 percent) There’s a lot of academic overlap, in part because both universities are Land Grant schools.

But UNH is also less isolated than UConn.

It’s only an hour from Boston or Portland, Maine and closer to mountains and beaches. There’s an Amtrak station on campus where trains leave for both cities six times a day on weekdays and five times daily on weekends. Trains are three hours apart, so a commute to Boston more than two or times a semester is not practical. However, UNH also has a 16-credit Semester In The City program for students who are interested in social change. There’s another program, Semester for Impact, where students can opt to stay in New Hampshire. Both programs include an internship with a for-profit business or a non-profit organization.

However, UConn has the sports profile which helps them in admissions.

UConn has been a nationally dominant player in men’s and women’s basketball as well as men’s and women’s soccer. UNH plays these sports in America East, a conference with a much lower profile. UConn also competes in more sports (21 vs. 19). You’re far more likely to meet UConn fans at a basketball watch party in any city than UNH fans for any sport.

However, UNH has had the better football program. From 2004 through 2017 the UNH Wildcats made the playoffs every season, though they did not get past the quarterfinals. Former NFL, Oregon and UCLA head coach, now Ohio State offensive coordinator Chip Kelly got his start at UNH. He played defensive back for the Wildcats. Kelly’s coaching career includes 13 seasons as an assistant at his alma mater, the last eight as offensive coordinator.

UNH also has the stronger men’s hockey program. While neither the men nor the women have won a national championship, the hockey programs were quite competitive through the 2000’s and into the 2010’s. According to the NCAA, the men ranked 12^thnationally in home attendance this season, averaging over 5,500 fans per game in a venue that seats just over 6,500.

Unlike other flagships, applications to UNH have not taken off on a ‘hockey stick’ trajectory.

Applications rose from 19,000 in 2014 to 22,100 in 2023. That’s not a major climb considering that UMass-Amherst and the larger Boston colleges have become more selective. The size of the incoming freshman class actually declined from more than 3,900 in 2014 to 3,100 this past fall. The yield rate, the percentage of accepted students who decided to come, dropped from 25 percent to 16 percent. Forty years ago, UNH attracted just under 40 percent of its students from outside the Granite State. By 2015 over half were non-residents. As undergraduate enrollment has dropped from 12,600 in 2014 to 11,200 in 2023, UNH now gets 55 percent of the population from other states.

While undergraduate enrollment has dropped freshman retention has held steady.

Retention has been between 85 and 87 percent since 2014. Over two-thirds of every freshman class that entered from 2014 to 2019 graduated in four years. That’s quite good considering the loss after the first year, and there are good reasons for the success.

Access to undergraduate research at UNH is better than it will be at larger schools such as UConn, UMass-Amherst or Rutgers-New Brunswick.
The university’s Hamel Center for Undergraduate Research is one of the longest standing programs of its kind at a state university. The university’s two-week long Undergraduate Research Conference is held every April. It attracts as many student participants as you might find at a much larger state school.

While UNH moves students from the sophomore to the junior year fairly well, the numbers tell me that it’s important to find your people and your academic direction as early as possible, preferably after two or three semesters. They also tell me that costs are a problem.

UNH is expensive for a public flagship university.

Resident tuition and fees are over $19,000, among the highest in the country. Non-residents are asked to pay $20,000 more before scholarships. However, a Connecticut, Massachusetts or New Jersey resident who would be the “bread and butter” student at their home state flagship school could qualify for a non-resident merit scholarship as high as $14,000. A 3.2 GPA is required to keep the largest award. Merit scholarships go further down in a freshman class than they do at other flagships. Nearly 30 percent of the Class of 2026 received a merit award. These averaged $6,600.

The average student loan debt for 2022 graduates exceeded $40,000. That’s high for any school. But it is also reflective of a point that 30 percent of those who borrowed to cover their costs had to take out private loans. A quarter of the class had no debt at all.

Conclusions

In many ways it’s hard to fault UNH. Admissions are quite achievable unless you want to be a nurse. The campus and surrounding area have a New England “look and feel” that many will find quite appealing. There’s plenty for students to do, provided that they have access to a car, and they can still get to Boston or Portland by train. There are plenty of academic options across the university’s seven undergraduate colleges. It’s quite possible to get a more personal educational experience here than you would get at most other flagship state schools.

UNH competes in a tough market. UNH, like UMaine, URI and UVM must fill the majority of their undergraduate student body with non-residents. Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New Jersey are the most likely markets to find them. Those states have more people and only one residential flagship school. However, for UNH to attract the “bread and butter” student who might otherwise go to Rutgers, UConn or UMass-Amherst, it must offer larger merit awards and make them easier to keep.

Report Card-University of New Hampshire

Four-Year/Six Year Graduation Rates: B+/B+
Freshman Retention: B+
Costs: C
Curriculum: A
Community: B+
Comforts: B+
Connections: A (Boston/Portland ME)/B (NYC/California/DC/Florida)/C (elsewhere)

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