SEMO enrollment drops for first time since 1994

CAPE GIRARDEAU -- After 20 consecutive years of enrollment growth at Southeast Missouri State University, there is a slight decline in the number of students enrolled this fall, according to totals released by the university.

Total fall enrollment at the university was 11,411 as of Tuesday, according to a Southeast news release. The enrollment figure comes second to the university's historic high of 11,580 in fall 2014 and represents a decline of 1.5 percent.

The last time enrollment declined was in 1994, said Debbie Below, vice president for enrollment management and student success and dean of students.

Below said the university saw a decline in the number of returning students and first-time adult students. There also was a decline in the number of students earning a second degree, but that was tied to an increase in students who enrolled in graduate programs.

"It was a really odd year, because we had a large number of students who ended up in a graduate program who used to be in a second baccalaureate degree program," she said.

Each of the regional campuses also have slightly fewer students this semester, she said, as well as the Cape College Center.

Fewer adult learners reflects a trend that typically follows a lower unemployment rate, according to the release.

Preliminary first-day figures indicate total undergraduate enrollment at 10,082, international students at 1,130, African-American students at 1,007 and Hispanic students at 198.

Transfer student enrollment stands at 683, up from 630 in fall 2014, according to Southeast, and total graduate student enrollment stands at 1,329, up from 1,139 in fall 2014.