COLLEGES COMPETE FOR STUDENTS (LAST OF TWO PARTS)

In the battle to recruit college students, Southern Illinois University-Carbondale and Murray (Ky.) State University have one weapon that Southeast Missouri State University doesn't: tuition breaks to out-of-state students in the region.

Southeast can't offer the breaks because state law prohibits Missouri public colleges and universities from charging in-state tuition to out-of-state students.

"We are at a disadvantage," Southeast Admissions Director Juan Crites said.

With colleges nationwide having to compete for a smaller supply of students, every recruitment tool is important.

"It is not just the academy anymore, it is a business," she said.

While the pool of students is expected to increase, it won't begin to approach past enrollments when the baby-boomers were in college, Crites said.

But even with their tuition breaks, SIU and Murray State attract relatively few students from the Southeast Missouri region.

The real battleground in the recruiting war is in Southern Illinois. About 800 of Southeast's students -- 10 percent of the school's total enrollment -- come from Illinois. That number could increase dramatically if the university were able to offer a price break to Illinois students.

"We stand to gain a great deal if we had out-of-state incentives," Crites said. "We are that popular in Southern Illinois.

"We are their backyard institution, and yet they cannot afford to come here," she said.

Chris Seyer, one of Southeast's nine admissions counselors, is on the front line of the recruiting war; he visits almost 100 Illinois high schools annually, from Springfield southward.

"We could increase a whole lot more if we could offer an out-of-state incentive. That is what I hear from high school counselors and pretty much students and parents," he said.

Seyer said many Southern Illinois students decide to attend SIU, Murray State or community colleges because it is less expensive than paying out-of-state tuition to attend Southeast.

It's a couple thousand dollars cheaper for those students to go to school in their home state or attend Murray State. "It's a huge factor," Seyer said.

Seyer, Crites and others in the admissions office at Southeast would like to see Missouri law changed.

They say it doesn't make sense for a student in East Cape Girardeau, Ill., for example, to have to pay out-of-state tuition to attend school only a few miles away.

If an out-of-state student's parent or parents work in Missouri and pay Missouri taxes, the out-of-state tuition will be reduced by the amount paid in taxes up to a maximum of about $2,100, which is the cost difference between in-state and out-of-state tuition.

It is almost impossible for an out-of-state student to secure Missouri residency. "The burden of proof is on the student," Crites said. "It just doesn't happen."

In order to claim Missouri residency, a student must have lived in the state for 12 months and prove that his primary purpose in moving wasn't to go to college.

There are two exceptions. If a student moves to Missouri with his or her family because the mother or father, or both, have taken new jobs, then the student automatically qualifies as an in-state student. A person who moves to Missouri for retirement or a full-time job can qualify for in-state student status.

"The whole idea is to make sure they are paying Missouri taxes," Crites said.

Since Missouri's public colleges and universities are funded partly by state taxes, the law is designed to see that students who pay in-state tuition are those whose families are contributing some of that tax money.

Crites said the state law interferes with the marketplace. "It causes you to shop differently. It causes you to maybe not choose your first-choice institution because of cost."