Southeastern's spring enrollment tops 14,000 students
Contact: Rene Abadie
2/9/06
HAMMOND – Southeastern Louisiana University’s enrollment for spring 2006, the university’s first “normal” semester since Hurricane Katrina, totals 14,094, according to official university figures released after the 14th class day. University officials attribute the 2.6 percent decrease – compared to last year’s 14,463 headcount – to lingering effects of the hurricane, which disrupted the college plans and careers of thousands of southeast Louisiana students.
President Randy Moffett calls the post-Katrina scenario for higher education the “new normal” and said that Southeastern -- now the third largest university in the state – is grappling with the after-effects along with the rest of the region.
“Many of our students who were forced to resign following Hurricane Katrina simply have not been able to return to the university yet,” said Moffett. “For some, it may be they have relocated to a different region of Louisiana or to another state; for others, it is work-related. Our hopes are that, as the recovery gains momentum, many of those students will return to complete their college education.”
Moffett said recovery may take longer than most people originally anticipated, “but we as a university cannot sit still. Having recently completed a strategic planning meeting, where we mapped out priorities for the next five years, we recognized the need to continue to move the university forward. Our physical facilities were not impacted significantly, so we are not facing a reconstruction effort. Parts of our service area, however, are facing a lot of challenges; but we also recognize there are many opportunities as well.”
Southeastern lost approximately 1,500 students who resigned in the fall semester following the hurricane, while adding about 1,200 students who had been displaced from New Orleans area institutions. About 300 of those previously classified as “guest” students have elected to continue at Southeastern as transfer students.
“Those students have found a new home here, and we welcome them to the Southeastern family,” Moffett said.
According to the official enrollment report, numbers of freshmen and juniors saw increases of nearly 3.5 percent while seniors remained at about the same level compared to last spring’s enrollment. Declines were registered among sophomores and graduate students.
Tangipahoa and St. Tammany continue to serve as the top feeder parishes to Southeastern, with 2,963 and 2,944 students respectively. Other top parishes include East Baton Rouge, 1,959; Livingston, 1,654; Jefferson, 785; and Ascension, 614.
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