39 PERCENT OF SOUTHEAST'S '82 FRESHMEN GRADUATED IN 6 YEARS

Only 39 percent of Southeast Missouri State University's full-time students who entered college in 1982 were graduated from the school within six years, show Missouri Coordinating Board for Higher Education statistics.

But university officials said the graduation rate is climbing as a result of the tightening of admission standards over the past three years.

Leslie Cochran, Southeast's provost, estimated Friday that the university's graduation rate is now around the national average for comprehensive regional universities, which is about 42 percent.

The coordinating board last week released figures showing the percentage of full-time students at each of Missouri's four-year public colleges and universities who entered school in the fall of 1982. The figures showed how many were graduated from that same institution with an undergraduate degree or certificate by spring 1988. The figures reflect those graduating with bachelor's or associate degrees.

Of the state's 13 four-year public colleges and universities, only two University of Missouri-Columbia and University of Missouri-Rolla had graduation rates above 50 percent, the coordinating board records showed.

The degree-completion rates ranged from 54 percent at Harris-Stowe to 53 percent at the University of Missouri's Columbia and Rolla campuses.

Both Northeast Missouri State and Northwest Missouri State had completion rates of over 49 percent.

Southeast ranked eighth among the 13 schools in terms of its graduation rate, coordinating board records showed.

The degree-completion figures do not include students who transferred and completed degrees at other schools.

At Southeast, for example, the university's engineering students transfer to the University of Missouri-Rolla to complete their studies. "We send a sizable number of students to Rolla," Cochran said of Southeast.

The rates also do not include students who took more than six years to graduate.

The graduation figures are of concern to Charles McClain, Missouri's higher education commissioner. "Less than 50 percent of the students enrolling in Missouri's four-year public colleges and universities will complete their degrees within six years if recent trends continue, and this is not good enough," McClain said.

In a speech to the National Association of State Budget Officers in Seattle last week, McClain said the emphasis in higher education is shifting "from quantity to quality."

He said states need to examine the outcomes of higher education when making funding decisions, and discontinue formulas that reward only enrollment growth.

He questioned how many states are funding universities for "the number of people walking in the front door rather than the number graduating with degrees."

Cochran said the 39 percent figure for Southeast reflects the graduation of students who entered school when the university had an open admissions policy. "Essentially if you graduated from a high school in Southeast Missouri, you had an opportunity to come here," he explained.

But that has changed: entering students now must have a 2.0 grade point average and a minimum ACT score of 18.

University officials have repeatedly said that the class of entering freshmen for this fall ranks higher academically than previous freshman classes.

The university has already rejected 450 student applications this year because the students didn't meet academic requirements. In 1982, said Cochran, "we didn't deny any."

Fred Snider, dean of admissions and records at Southeast, said the 450 students turned away are the most that have ever been rejected for admission to the school.

In addition, he said, the university is admitting fewer provisional students. Less than 100 have been admitted for the fall semester, or less than half the 229 that were admitted last year, Snider said.

Cochran said enactment of tougher admission standards is a national trend in higher education and one he agrees with. "I think the qualitative thrust is clearly on target," he said.

Snider said the university could see its graduation rate climb to 50 percent within the next six years.

Both Cochran and Snider said they would be pleased with a 50 percent graduation rate.

The university, they said, can't be expected to achieve the 90 percent graduation rates of Ivy League colleges and other elite schools that have extremely selective admission policies.