Fewer freshman this fall at MU

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) - The University of Missouri is expecting fewer freshman this fall compared to last year.

A memo from Ann Korschgen, the university's vice provost for enrollment management, and Barbara Rupp, director of admissions, estimates freshman enrollment this fall at 6,165 based on current deposits. That's a drop of nearly 480 from last year, The Columbia Daily Tribune reported.

Korschgen said in an email that the university has anticipated the drop in freshmen as the number of high school students in Missouri and the Midwest declines.

"We are not surprised that there is a decline for this fall in our enrollment deposits from first-time college students," she said.

Korschgen said the MU's total enrollment is up.

"Our incoming classes have far exceeded the size of our graduating classes, and thus we have had and will have for a while a continuing increase in total enrollment," she said.

Deposits from out-of-state students also dropped by 61 this year, but that number is still up 423 from two years ago. Tuition revenue from out-of-state students still makes up a significant portion of the income, said Rhonda Gibler, university's budget director.

For fiscal year 2013, slightly more than 44 percent of the total undergraduate tuition revenue of $261 million came from nonresident tuition. In fiscal year 2012, about 40 percent of $242 million tuition revenue came from nonresident undergraduate tuition.