SEMO's GOOD PROBLEM REQUIRES SOME FINESSE

Southeast Missouri State University has an enviable problem, but it's a problem all the same.

The university may have to limit freshmen enrollment for the fall semester because of too many students, too few dorm rooms and a policy that says freshmen who live 50 or more miles from the Cape Girardeau campus have to live in dorms.

And, despite being given the option to move off campus because of high achievement, which indicates a measure of responsibility, many sophomores have opted to stay. They enjoy the convenience and camaraderie that goes along with campus residency.

University president Ken Dobbins says enrollment is climbing even though many area high schools have smaller senior classes this year. He believes the university's recruiting campaigns in St. Louis are paying off big, and the promise of a smaller campus and more attention from professors and advisers appeals to those students.

But no matter why it's happening, it is a situation the university has to deal with it.

Here are the numbers:

Southeast can house 2,495 students on campus. The university has reserved 1,200 beds for new students, including freshmen, transfer and international students. There are about 40 of those spaces left.

But the university expects 1,600 incoming freshmen, up 100 from last year. If most of them are local, OK. If not, the university may have to stop accepting freshmen who must live on campus and encourage them to apply for the spring 2002 semester.

The immediate problem is that incoming juniors and seniors who wanted to live on campus are being either wedged into three-person rooms or told they'll have to make other arrangements.

How different from just a few years ago, when Southeast was losing money on empty dorm rooms.

Help is on the way. The university plans to build a 300-student residence hall on Henderson Avenue to be completed in the fall of 2002.

Until that time, students and housing personnel will have to be patient and reasonable, working together to get housing worked out so students can have roofs over their heads and then focus on the most important thing: getting an education and pursing their career goals.