SEMO: ACADEMIC REPUTATION, RECRUITMENT PAYING OFF

Southeast Missouri State University officials say the school's enrollment could get a boost from a growing academic reputation, stronger recruiting, and an increasing number of high school graduates in the region.

They think enrollment will climb soon after years of dwindling head counts.

When Juan Crites took over as admissions director in 1990, the school's enrollment was plummeting, in large part because the university was attracting fewer students from the St. Louis area.

Between 1978 and 1988, the number of St. Louis area students who attended Southeast declined by about 1,000.

But the number of students attending the school from the Southeast Missouri region has remained fairly constant even as the number of high school graduates has declined.

In 1993, Southeast's student body included only 60 fewer students from the region as compared to 1980, school officials said. The region extends from Jefferson County to the Arkansas line.

In the days of free and easy enrollment, the Cape Girardeau school had a reputation with St. Louis residents as a discount-store variety university.

The school admitted virtually anyone back then. But in many ways, it was a revolving door. A lot of students didn't stay.

Nearly half of the beginning freshmen who entered Southeast in fall 1988 left within two years.

The situation has improved slightly in recent years, with the adoption of tougher admission standards. Still, 45 percent of the beginning freshmen who entered Southeast in the fall of 1992 were gone by 1994.

The overall enrollment decline was spurred on by a simple numbers game.

With a declining number of high school graduates in the region, there were simply fewer prospective college students. Statewide, the number of public high school graduates fell from nearly 52,000 in 1988-89 to less than 47,000 in 1993-94, a university official said.

Over a 10-year period ending in 1992, there were 6,123 fewer high school graduates in the St. Louis area and 1,405 fewer in Southeast Missouri.

From 1981 to 1991, total enrollment dropped by 1,000, from 9,122 to 8,080.

"It took 10 years to get into this mess," Crites said.

James Biundo, Southeast's assistant vice president of university relations, said the school also suffered because its recruitment efforts lagged behind its competitors.

Recruitment efforts have been restructured since then.

"We closed the St. Louis office because people can't work 150 miles from home," Crites said.

Today, Southeast engages in everything from sophisticated mailings to student telemarketing.

The admissions office has an 11-member staff, including Crites.

Even so, enrollment has remained down. There were 8,084 students at Southeast in the fall of 1993. Last fall, there were 7,925, a drop of 159 students.

But other colleges also experienced enrollment slides. The University of Missouri-Columbia saw total enrollment drop by more than 1,200 students from fall 1992 to fall 1993. Southwest Missouri State had 842 fewer students, while Southeast's head count dropped by 358 students.

During a five-year period from fall 1989 to fall 1993, the number of first-time, full-time freshmen at Southeast decreased nearly 25 percent.

But other Missouri colleges also saw sharp declines. The University of Missouri-St. Louis saw its freshmen population decline by almost half. Central Missouri State University's freshmen enrollment fell 39 percent.

Since Dr. Kala Stroup became president of Southeast in July 1990, the school has tightened admission standards and recruited academically better students, a move school officials believe will improve the retention rate and boost enrollment.

In the past 4 1/2 years Southeast has enrolled more than 100 National Merit scholars. In the fall of 1993, the incoming class of freshmen included 39 Merit Scholars, more than any other public college in the state.

Only Washington University of St. Louis, a private college, had more freshmen Merit Scholars that fall, Biundo said.