SEMO ANTICIPATES ENROLLMENT DROP

Southeast Missouri State University expects to have about 100 to 150 fewer students enrolled this fall than a year ago, school officials said Friday.

Nearly 1,200 beginning freshmen are enrolled for classes this fall, said Dr. SueAnn Strom, vice president of student affairs.

Another 140 to 150 students may enroll Saturday. Forty to 50 students are expected to be enrolled in the Southeast P.M. program of evening and weekend classes.

Strom said that could still leave the university with about 100 fewer new students than a year ago when classes start Monday.

The university expects more returning freshmen and sophomores will be enrolled this fall, a reflection of last year's large freshman class.

But both the junior and senior classes are expected to be down slightly, Strom told reporters at the university's annual Media Day.

The morning news briefing was held at Southeast's new Robert A. Dempster Hall, home to the Donald L. Harrison College of Business.

About 2,000 Southeast students will live on campus this fall. About 1,300 of them will live in the four high-rise residence halls of the Towers complex, Strom said.

Southeast had 8,118 students enrolled in fall 1995, reversing five years of declining enrollment.

School officials said last year that it appeared the university had turned enrollment around. The university wants to boost enrollment to 10,300 by 2000. But Dr. Dale Nitzschke, Southeast's president, said it might take 10 years to reach that goal.

Nitzschke said the university wants steady enrollment growth. But he said it won't happen overnight.

He and Strom view the enrollment drop as a slight dip in the road as opposed to the start of a long-term slide.

Nitzschke said Southeast's tougher admission standards may have put the brakes on enrollment growth to some extent.

But he and other school officials believe the tougher standards will ultimately attract better students who will stay in school.

Nitzschke said higher enrollment shouldn't be the only goal of a university.

Strom said it will take more than an influx of freshmen to reach the 10,000 enrollment level. Southeast also must improve its retention of students and create academic programs that attract students, she said.

The university is starting a physical therapy program next year. Some 400 people already have expressed interest in enrolling in the program.

Southeast also is working to set up a master's degree program to train people for careers as nurse practitioners.

Nitzschke said the new business building and establishment of a physical therapy program next year should pay dividends in student recruitment.

Even though the pool of high school graduates is again on the upswing, many southeast Missourians don't go on to college, Strom said. In 1990, only 9 percent of adults 25 and older in the 24-county region served by the university had college degrees and only 18 percent had taken some college courses.