UNIVERSITY'S FIRST-DAY ENROLLMENT DOWN SLIGHTLY

Southeast Missouri State University had fewer students enrolled on the first day of classes this fall compared to a year ago.

Combined graduate and undergraduate enrollment stood at 8,032 on Monday, down 81 from a year ago.

School officials said the decrease was due to a drop in graduate enrollment. Graduate enrollment stood at 844, down 159 from a year earlier.

Undergraduate enrollment was up slightly, from 7,110 in August 1999 to 7,188 this year.

Southeast President Dr. Ken Dobbins said he expects graduate enrollment to climb to around last year's level by the final enrollment date in four weeks.

Dobbins believes total enrollment may approach 9,000, a figure that hasn't been reached since 1985 when enrollment stood at 9,058.

"We may not break it, but we will be very close," he said.

Southeast has more than 1,500 beginning freshmen this fall, down 10 from a year ago. But the university has seen gains in returning freshmen, sophomores and juniors.

The sophomore class stands at 1,522, up 126 from last year. Dobbins said it reflects the retention of students who were freshmen at Southeast last year and the influx of transfer students.

Southeast has 1,707 seniors, 75 fewer than a year ago. Dobbins said that reflects the fact that the university had a small freshman class in fall 1997. "We had only 1,200 new freshmen, that is why we have a decrease in seniors," he said.

Dobbins said that overall the university is making enrollment gains.

The first-day enrollment figures include students enrolled in Southeast courses at outlying higher education centers.

As for graduate enrollment, Dobbins said graduate students often enroll later than undergraduate students.

Last year, 1,003 graduate students were enrolled in classes on the first day of the fall semester. That total increased by 386 by the final enrollment date, school records show.

Undergraduate enrollment also increased in 1999, from 7,110 to 7,480, a jump of 370 students.

A year ago, Southeast's final fall enrollment stood at 8,869 graduate and undergraduate students, up 756 from the first day of classes.