HAMMOND -- The projections were accurate: Southeastern Louisiana University’s fall 2002 semester head count is once again over the 15,000 mark.
      At the close of the fall semester registration period earlier this month, university officials predicted that enrollment would exceed last fall’s total of 14,522 by more than 500 students, topping 15,000 for the first time in three years. The university’s fall enrollment profile, issued after the first 14 class days, shows that a total of 15,195 students are attending classes, a 4.6 percent increase over fall 2001. 
      According to Stephen Soutullo, director of Academic Services, the enrollment gain can be attributed to Southeastern’s success over the past two years in communicating its admission requirements to new and transfer students. Southeastern instituted admission standards in fall 2000.
      “More students are applying and being admitted and high schools students are rising to the challenge of the new standards,” Soutullo said. “We are very pleased with this semester’s figures.”
      The fall 2002 headcount also shows that average American College Test (ACT) composite scores for beginning freshman, which rose from 19.0 in fall 1999 to 19.7 last year, are remaining steady. The average composite ACT score for this semester’s 2,486 beginning freshmen is 19.6.
      Broken down by classification, fall 2002 enrollment includes 5,002 freshmen, 2,775 sophomores, 2,320 juniors, 3,291 seniors, and 1,807 graduate students. Tangipahoa Parish continues to be Southeastern’s top feeder parish, with a total of 3,728 students from the parish. The other top parishes sending students to Southeastern include St. Tammany, 3,225; East Baton Rouge, 2,036; Livingston, 1,826; Jefferson, 772, and Washington, 691. St. Tammany Parish showed the largest gain, an 8.6 percent increase over fall 2001.
      Graduate enrollment increased by more than 100 students, Soutullo said. The university has instituted four new graduate programs over the past two years, including the Master of Arts in Teaching, which began offering classes during the summer, and the new Applied Sociology degree, which is new this fall.