RESEARCH KEY TO RECRUITMENT

Dr. Robert Parrent doesn't just talk about boosting enrollment, he preaches it.

Southeast Missouri State University's associate vice president for enrollment management is leading the charge in the university's effort to boost enrollment to 10,300. Enrollment last fall stood at just over 8,200.

The Board of Regents hired Parrent last August. Parrent previously handled enrollment duties at a small college in Kentucky.

Parrent said 10,300 is a goal that can be reached, But he admits the school might not reach it by the target year of 2000.

That hasn't diminished Parrent's enthusiasm or that of Jay Goff, interim admissions director. The two work side by side in the recruiting effort.

Their offices are on the west end of the main floor of Academic Hall. It is a busy area where staff members and student assistants regularly meet with prospective students.

Goff said Southeast doesn't want to get too big. "We will not be Mizzou."

Parrent and Goff both preach the importance of research in student recruitment.

Parrent said that when he arrived at Southeast the university had little solid demographic data to draw on. The data since have been compiled. Among other things, it examines population growth.

Parrent said the university is targeting different student populations rather than using a shotgun approach. Enrollment management, he said, involves recruitment, retention and research.

Southeast has students from all but 29 counties in Missouri. But much of the university's 24-county service region is sparsely populated, Goff said.

Only Cape Girardeau and St. Francois counties in the Southeast region were among the 20 fastest-growing counties in the state in terms of population from 1990 to 1995, he said.

Eleven counties in the service region have populations of under 15,000. As a result, Parrent and Goff said, the university must do a better job of recruiting students from the heavily populated St. Louis area.

Parrent said an expected growth in the number of high school graduates in Missouri and surrounding states over the next few years offers the potential to boost enrollment at Southeast.

Over the next 10 years, Missouri is expected to see a 7 percent increase in the number of students coming out of high school. Illinois and Tennessee are expected to each see an increase of 16 percent, Parrent said.

Parrent said student recruitment involves everyone from admissions officers to faculty. He said many academic programs could handle more students without hiring more teachers. The university needs to recruit students for those degree programs, he said.

Parrent wants the university to spend $40,000 for a virtual reality machine that could be taken to college fairs. A prospective student would put on goggles and be able to see video clips that make it appear he or she is actually walking across the Southeast campus.

Parrent said the prospective student would have to punch in personal data to use the machine. This would allow the university to secure names and other information about prospective students.

Parrent said Southeast would be the only university in the country using such a device.

"It is not a cost, it is an investment," he said of recruitment efforts.