Southern has new strategy to bring in students

BATON ROUGE — Southern University will compete for a share of Baton Rouge's community college market this fall as part of a strategy to boost sagging enrollment.

The student numbers have dipped during the past several years with the introduction of tougher state admissions standards.

The Advocate reports (http://bit.ly/LBDj1q) the state has warned the strategy could backfire when it comes time to assess the performance measures used to divvy up state funding for schools — a concern a spokesman within the Southern System downplayed on Friday.

The plan calls for Southern University at Shreveport, a two-year community college, to operate a satellite location in Baton Rouge.

Students who don't meet the admissions criteria to get into Southern can still get on campus by enrolling in remedial or developmental courses through Southern-Shreveport.