SEMO's enrollment on first day up slightly

Crowded parking lots and a growing enrollment greeted students on the first day of classes Monday at Southeast Missouri State University. One lot was so full that some students parked their cars in the mud.

First-day enrollment was up 1.2 percent over last year with 8,854 graduate and undergraduate students signed up for classes. If last year is any indication, that number could climb by some 800 students by the Sept. 17 enrollment deadline.

Southeast ended up with a final enrollment of 9,570 students last fall, the third consecutive year of record enrollments.

"I would say we are going to be within 1 percent of that on either side, which is essentially stable," said Dr. Dennis Holt, vice president of administration and enrollment management.

Not a large pool

While enrollment has climbed, it hasn't been dramatic. Final enrollment increased by 182 students from fall 2002 to fall 2003.

Holt said there's not a large enough pool of potential students in Southeast Missouri, Southern Illinois and the St. Louis area to significantly increase enrollment over the next four years.

"We think we could probably be around 9,700 or 9,800 in 2008," he said.

But even first-day enrollment numbers of nearly 9,000 students can generate a parking crunch, students say.

"The pig lot at 7:30 a.m. on Monday was completely full," said Becky Langan, a 20-year-old junior from Oakville, Mo. "We had to park in the mud."

Students refer to the lot on New Madrid Street as the pig lot, a reference to the fact that it was once part of the university farm.

But with the parking lot so crowded Monday, some students just parked on open, muddy ground next to the lot.

The first-day enrollment figure includes students who registered for Southeast classes taught at outlying higher education centers stretching from Perryville to Kennett in Southeast Missouri.

As of Tuesday, the university had no figures yet on individual enrollment totals at the outlying centers.

Total undergraduate student enrollment stood at 7,937 on Monday, up 0.9 percent from a year ago. Southeast had 917 graduate students enrolled, up 4.2 percent.

The school has 1,513 beginning freshmen, up 0.9 percent from a year ago. That reverses two years of decline in beginning-freshmen enrollment, Holt said.

"In an increasingly competitive market, the fact that we have maintained our numbers in beginning freshmen is to be commended and that we have increased is even better," he said.

mbliss@semissourian.com

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