Northern New Mexico College
Española, NM
15 → 70
Program enrollment growth
Rural
Underserved community served
Intel · Sandia
Where graduates work
The Challenge
Northern New Mexico College serves a rural community in Española, NM. The IT department wanted to grow a competitive networking and cybersecurity program, but the campus's remote location made it hard to attract learners and impractical to ask them to be on campus for lab work.
The Solution
NNMC adopted NETLAB+ to deliver hands-on labs over the network. Learners reserve pod time and connect from wherever they are (campus, home, or a remote work site) to real Cisco equipment hosted at the college. The same equipment serves multiple classes at different times.
"Our students are getting jobs at national labs, at Intel, at Sandia — places they never thought they could work."
- IT Program Director
The Results
Program enrollment grew from 15 to 70 learners. Graduates have gone on to roles at Intel, Sandia National Laboratories, and other regional employers. NNMC demonstrated that geography does not have to limit access to high-quality technical education.