SEMO'S SPRING ENROLLMENT DOWN 3 PERCENT FROM YEAR AGO

Spring enrollment at Southeast Missouri State University stood at 7,197 on the first day of classes Monday, down 3 percent from a year ago.

The number of graduate students stood at 686, up 56 or 9 percent.

The total headcount for graduate and undergraduate students was down 199 from the 1994 spring semester.

Total undergraduate headcount stood at 6,511, down 255 or 4 percent from a year ago.

On the first day of classes, Southeast had 1,379 freshmen, down 105 or 7 percent; 1,436 sophomores, down 93 or 6 percent; 1,454 juniors, down 92 or 6 percent; and 1,817 seniors, up 53 or 3 percent.

School officials said the increase in the senior class shows that retention of students is on the rise among the first class of students admitted to the university under more rigorous admissions standards.

Beginning in 1991, Southeast began establishing a more selective admissions policy.

Art Wallhausen, assistant to the president at Southeast, said the decline in total headcount was expected.

"The things that affect spring semester enrollment are fall enrollment and the size of the graduating class in December," he said.

Fall enrollment was down about 3 percent, Wallhausen said. The university also had a sizable graduating class in December.

"Typically, you have between 100 and 150 beginning students in the spring and that doesn't make up for the 500 or 600 you graduate in December."