SEMO WON'T TAKE FRESHMEN AFTER JUNE 22

Freshmen who wait too long to enroll at Southeast Missouri State University this year may not get in.

The university's Board of Regents capped fall freshmen enrollment on Monday, citing bulging residence halls and classrooms. It's reportedly the first enrollment cap in school history and takes effect June 22, after which Southeast won't accept additional first-time, full-time freshmen.

A growing freshmen class and retention of current students prompted the action, officials said. The university expects about 72 percent of last year's freshmen class to return to Southeast for their sophomore year this fall, up 3 percent from a year earlier.

"We are going to be full," said Southeast President Dr. Ken Dobbins. The cap, he said, could impact 75 to 100 prospective students.

Dobbins said the university will help those students enroll in classes in area higher education centers or Three Rivers Community College in Poplar Bluff, Mo., and Mineral Area College in Park Hills, Mo., should they want to begin college this fall.

The students would be able to enroll at Southeast for the spring 2002 semester. Dobbins said the university would hold a special orientation program for such students this fall.

University officials estimated Southeast could enroll another 600 first-time, full-time freshmen by the June 22 deadline, bringing the total number to about 1,600 for the fall semester, the highest number in several decades and an increase from last year's 1,542 students. About 1,200 of those freshmen will be living in campus housing.

Enrollment in spring semesters typically is 200 to 400 students lower than in fall semesters.

School officials said the enrollment management cap doesn't apply to sophomores, juniors or seniors, transfer students or part-time freshmen enrolled in less than 12 credit hours of classes.

Early applicants

The cap should affect few college-bound students, said Patricia Bratton, a guidance counselor at Cape Girardeau Central High School.

Reached at her high school office, Bratton said most of the students in the high school's 2001 graduating class already have applied and been admitted to colleges.

Bratton said 135 of the 280 graduates reported they planned to attend Southeast this fall.

The regents approved the cap during an 8:30 a.m. telephone conference call with Dobbins and other top university officials gathered in Dobbins' office at Academic Hall.

"I hope we are not going to shut anybody out," said Don Dickerson, president of the Board of Regents.

"I feel better about the fact that we do have the higher education centers now," he said. The university offers classes in education centers at Kennett, Sikeston and Malden and Perryville.

Full house

Dr. Pauline Fox, vice president of administration and enrollment management, said the university could be faced with more than 2,400 housing contracts this fall without the enrollment cap, 84 more than the 2,330 beds in student housing.

With the cap or "admissions deferrals" as officials call it, the university still could end up with 2,364 students in campus housing this August. Fox said the university temporarily could handle an overflow of 34 students by housing them in rooms of residence hall floor advisers. Typically, some students drop out during the first few weeks of the semester.

Provost Dr. Jane Stephens said freshmen classes are filling up. Southeast doesn't have enough faculty or classroom space to handle more than 1,600 freshmen. Academic support services staff, including those at the Center for Health and Counseling and advising centers would be stretched thin if freshmen enrollment were to climb any higher, she said.