SOUTHEAST ENROLLMENT FALLS BY 307

Southeast Missouri State University has 7,878 students enrolled for the fall semester, down 307 or 3.8 percent from last year, university officials said Tuesday.

The figures reflect first-day enrollment. Classes began Monday.

Total undergraduate headcount stands at 7,210, down 445 or 5.8 percent from a year ago. Graduate enrollment stands at 668, up 138 students or 26 percent from a year ago.

Kala Stroup, Southeast's president, said the drop in enrollment was expected because of increased admission standards in recent years.

"We denied admission to about 250 applicants this year, in addition to a similar number last year and 400 in the fall of 1991," Stroup said. "We knew that in the short term there would be an enrollment blip, but we believe this is in the long-term best interests of both the students and the university.

"We feel, particularly in an era of rising costs for students, that we cannot in good conscience enroll students who have a high risk of failure simply to avoid a possible decline in numbers," she said.

This year's freshman class is academically the best prepared class in the institution's history, Stroup said. Tentative figures indicate that the average ACT score of this year's freshman class is up another half point to 22.6. In addition, the class includes 38 National Merit scholars.

University officials said the official census will be taken on Sept. 17, the end of the fourth week of classes. Enrollment generally increases between the first day and the official reporting date.