University enrollment drop follows decade-long increase

COLUMBIA (AP) - Enrollment in the four-campus University of Missouri system increased 19 percent over a decade before losing ground after last year's protests at the Columbia campus and a drop in high school graduates in the state.

An end-of-year report shared Thursday at the University of Missouri Board of Curators meeting showed enrollment across the system increased from 48,434 in fall 2005 to 57,785 in 2015, the Columbia Daily Tribune reported.

However, from 2015 to this fall, enrollment on the Columbia campus decreased 6 percent, and enrollment at campuses in St. Louis, Kansas City and Rolla was mostly flat.

Officials at the University of Missouri have chalked up the decline to several factors, including a dip in the number of high school graduates in Missouri and damage to the campus' image after protests over racial issues in fall 2015 toppled system President Tim Wolfe.

"We're right in the trough right there where there's a significant drop in high school graduates in Missouri," said Steve Graham, the system's senior associate vice president for academic affairs, adding the number of people graduating high school in the state is expected to increase by 2020.

Asked about how to appeal to higher-achieving students, Columbia campus' interim chancellor, Hank Foley, said the university has to find a way to compete with regional universities that have honors colleges with bigger endowments, because those universities can offer more full-ride scholarships.

"Right now we are losing top-ranked high school students with high ACT scores, frankly, to Arkansas and Alabama," Foley said. "I hear that daily."