The economic crisis in Southeast Asian countries could affect the academic profile of the incoming freshman class of 1998.As a result of the economic crisis, OSU is expected to lose about 350 international students, said James Mager, assistant vice president at the Office of Enrollment Management. This would include 300 undergraduate and 50 graduate students.The number of international freshmen expected for fall quarter is only 80, down from 130 last fall, Mager said. This drop has led OSU to increase the number of students being admitted this fall to compensate for the financial loss, Mager said.OSU will offer 300 additional admissions spaces, raising enrollment for the incoming fall freshmen to 6,000 from 5,861 last fall. Mager said OSU hopes to fill half of the 300 additional spaces offered. However, the increased enrollment will cause the average ACT score of the freshman class to see a smaller increase than had been hoped for, said Mager.”We would have to go lower in the pool to ensure the 6,000 students,” he said.The freshman class in the fall of 1997 was labeled the smartest ever with an average ACT score of 24. With 95 percent of the admission decisions having been made, Mager expected the average ACT score for the incoming freshman class of fall 1998 to be 24.1.However the score increase would have been higher by an additional 0.1 to 0.2 points had the enrollment size of the class not been increased, Mager said.The academic profile of any class is based on statistics such as the ACT and SAT scores, Mager said. Most international students do not take either of these tests and are excluded from the academic profile of the class, Mager said. International students do not normally have access to the ACT or SAT, Mager said. These students are admitted on other information, including their past grades, he said.Other indicators of the freshman class profile measure the number of honors students enrolled.The number of honors students admitted is expected to remain about the same as last year, Mager said. There were 1,179 honors students enrolled in the freshman class of fall 1997. A total of $147,000 was given out in loans for winter quarter to 45 students from Indonesia, Malaysia, South Korea and Thailand, said Sherif Barsoum, a coordinator at the Office of International Education.Barsoum estimates the number of students receiving aid spring quarter to be above 80.OSU set aside $300,000 in loans to help Asian students, but that money was gone by March 26, Barsoum said.”We are in the process of taking it one quarter at a time,” Mager said. “Right now, we have our mind set strictly on the spring quarter. Later on in the spring quarter, we will be assessing the situation for the summer and fall quarters.”The repayment period of these loans has been extended from three to six months, but the interest rate of 7 percent remains the same, Barsoum said.The maximum loan amount has also been raised, he said. Previously, the highest loan disbursed was $1,000 per quarter, but that number jumped to $5,000 for spring. The loan situation for fall quarter is still undecided, Barsoum said. It is OSU’s decision.