UNIVERSITY CHARTS SOLID STRATEGY FOR ENROLLMENT

It is a numbers game, and Southeast Missouri State University is working hard to transform a decade of declining enrollments. The stakes are high and the competition fierce. Southeast officials concede they entered the game late, not realizing until about five years ago that old methods of recruitment would no longer work amid a dwindling pool of high school graduates.

From 1981 to 1994, total enrollment at Southeast dropped by 1,000, to 7,925 from 9,122.

But give Southeast credit. Once officials realized the problem, they have worked hard to curb the trends. And the numbers for this fall look encouraging.

About 220 more beginning freshmen have signed up for orientation and registration than last year. Campus housing contracts are also up 206 from last year. It appears the university now has the right recruiting strategies in place. That combined with a high school graduate pool that is again growing should spell success for Southeast in the years ahead.

Worry about a shrinking enrollment is not limited to the university. More students means a greater economic impact for Cape Girardeau and the region. As a result, the community has been supportive in the university's drive for students.

That support is reflected in student attendance from the region. Students from Southeast Missouri remain the bread and butter of enrollment. From 1983 to 1994, the number of students from Southeast Missouri fell by only 60. But the number of students from St. Louis, where recruitment efforts have become considerably more competitive, have fallen by more than 1,000.

Southeast isn't the only university hit by enrollment slides. For example, the University of Missouri-Columbia saw its total enrollment fall by more than 1,200 students from the fall of 1992 to the fall of 1993. Other Missouri universities have reported similar trends.

In the face of declining enrollments, there has been some criticism about Southeast's decision to raise admission standards. As a moderately selective university, Southeast automatically admits students with an ACT score of 21 or better. ACT scores have proven an excellent predictor of a student's potential for academic success.

But the 21 ACT is not a hard-and-fast rule. Southeast officials point out that students with lower scores can enroll. And Missouri's public colleges and universities can admit as many as 10 percent of their students who don't meet ACT and class rank standards.

University officials are hoping to attract students with more staying power. Southeast pretty well mirrors the national average for college graduation rates: a little over 36 percent. The target for a moderately selective university is a 55 percent rate. It seems reasonable to want to keep students in school longer or even all the way to graduation, although the 55 percent rate may be unrealistically high.

The university has also worked to better its academic reputation, enrolling more than 100 National Merit scholars in the last 4 1/2 years.

Southeast has tried to raise its pool of prospects this year to 20,000. Last year, 18,000 prospective students yielded 1,217 admissions. It only demonstrates the competitive strategies of today's recruitment game.

The road to rebuild enrollment has been a rocky one at Southeast. But the university seems to have the right people and recruitment strategies in place to turn the numbers around.