SEMO SEEKS MORE STUDENTS FROM ILLINOIS

Southeast Missouri State University is eyeing the golden ring: 10,000 students. But the road to build enrollment has been slow and rather bumpy.

Enter: tuition breaks for Illinois students in 35 counties.

The plan, which takes effect this fall, could go a long way to building significant numbers for Southeast.

Years ago the university had looked at tuition breaks as a way to build enrollment. But it was thought such a plan would go against state policies. Upon investigation, the university has discovered there are no legal barriers to offering tuition breaks or grants to border-state students.

A spokesman for the Missouri Coordinating Board for Higher Education said the long-standing policy is that Missouri's tax-supported colleges and universities should charge higher tuition for out-of-state students. But several other state universities are already offering tuition breaks for students in nearby counties of neighboring states.

For many years, Illinois offered such breaks to out-of-state students. In 1997, the Illinois Legislature mandated that the state could no longer offer those tuition waivers. In response, SIU lowered its out-of-state tuition from $8,100 a year to $5,400 a year. Other states -- including Kentucky and Arkansas -- are attracting students to their state universities with out-of-state tuition waivers.

The university is wise to ease into the program. It is also advisable to narrow the tuition break. A single fee for all students -- both in- and out-of-state -- would probably ruffle some feathers in Jefferson City.

The tuition breaks here will come in the form of Regional Achievement Awards. Eligible students will receive a $2,500 credit -- the difference between in and out-of-state tuition. The program won't cost real dollars -- the gains and losses are all on paper. The university isn't really losing money, because those Illinois students wouldn't be attending Southeast in the first place if they had to pay full tuition.

The university plans to offer the tuition break to a maximum of 250 students next fall. No more than 1,000 would be in the program at any one time. Only students in 35 nearby Illinois counties would be eligible.

But an additional 1,000 students would be a great boost to Southeast's enrollment, which has remained near the 8,500 mark for some time. Enrollment has grown only slightly in recent years.