FIRST-DAY UNIVERSITY ENROLLMENT DOWN 205

Southeast Missouri State University had 205 fewer students enrolled on the first day of classes Monday than on the first day of classes a year ago. It continued a downward trend that dates back several years.

The combined undergraduate and graduate headcount Monday was 7,673, down 2.6 percent from last year's 7,878.

There were 7,046 undergraduate students enrolled, down 164 from last fall's 7,210. The number of beginning freshmen was 1,242, down 44 from last fall.

The number of graduate students dropped from 668 in August 1993 to 627 this year. But the number of graduate degree-seeking students within the total actually climbed, from 457 last fall to 524 this year.

University officials said Tuesday they were glad the enrollment drop wasn't more. "We thought it might be down as much as 4 percent," said Art Wallhausen, assistant to the president at Southeast.

The Cape Girardeau school's fall enrollment decreased by more than 1,100 students between 1984 and 1993. The school's peak enrollment occurred in fall 1984, when 9,189 students were enrolled.

School officials have cited a declining pool nationwide of graduating high-school seniors and higher admission standards at Southeast as reasons for the enrollment decline.

As a result of the new academic standards, the university denied admission to 400 people in 1991, 250 in 1992 and in 1993, and 160 this year.

"The high-school class of '94 is in the bottom of the trough in terms of the number of students graduating from high school," Wallhausen said.

But he cautioned that enrollment won't recover overnight.

The university, he said, has been trying to improve its facilities to attract more students.

The school has hired a new food service company, embarked on the renovation of Towers residence halls and opened new computer labs. Construction of a new business school building should also help attract more students, officials said.

Towers West residence hall was recently renovated as part of an $11 million project. Work is continuing on the other half of the project, renovation of Towers North.

"All of those changes are part of the plan to rebuild enrollment," said Wallhausen. "We know that students tend to follow satisfied students. The aim is to improve the campus environment so our present students will be pleased with their situation here."

Don Dickerson, a member of the university Board of Regents, said this fall's enrollment drop was expected.

"We are in era right now, and we have been now for the last few years, of where the competition for good students is pretty keen," said Dickerson. "Personally, I am not happy that enrollment is dropping because I think the school has a lot to offer."