SEMO enrollment up 2.7 percent

The number of beginning freshmen is down, but overall enrollment is up at Southeast Missouri State University.

The Cape Girardeau-based university says total enrollment is up 2.7 percent compared to the first week of classes a year ago. The university now has 10,875 students for the fall semester.

Beginning freshman enrollment is 1,924, down 1.7 percent from 1,958 in 2010. The university attributes the decline to its announcement in early July that it was deferring enrollment until spring for applicants living outside a 50-mile radius of Cape Girardeau who requested housing and were applying for fall 2011 admission.