President Vargas bullish on Southeast enrollment for fall semester

In a letter to Southeast Missouri State University faculty and staff Monday, president Carlos Vargas noted what he called “good news” in reviewing the Fall 2020 enrollment profile.

The fall semester began Aug. 24.

Not all the information was uniformly positive.

Enrollment dropped to 9,603, a 4.9% decline from Fall 2019, but the drop was less than expected, Vargas said.

Other data points required less interpretation.

First-time student enrollment did not drop nearly as precipitously as originally forecast.

Vargas said Southeast was prepared for “a significant decline in beginning freshmen,” yet the university saw 1,510 freshmen signed up for classes in Fall 2020, a drop of just nine students from the year before.

Noting enrollment “will continue to be a challenge” for Southeast and other institutions, Vargas reminded university educators of the success of a strategic initiative his office launched a year ago called “Enhancing Recruitment and Student Success.”

Retention, which is the university’s way of measuring how many freshmen return for a sophomore year, stands at 80.08% — achieving for the first time the 80% goal Vargas’ administration set in 2016.

Diversity is touted a bright spot as the 2020-2021 academic year begins.

Vargas said 14.2% of Southeast’s student body is from a diverse race or ethnicity and 4.8% are international students.

Among beginning freshmen, there is a 24.2% increase in minority enrollment — with 172 new African American students, up 25.5% from a year ago, and 60 Hispanic students, up 67% year-to-year.