Recent high school graduates are one of Thomas Nelson Community College's (TNCC's) most important assets. From 1983 to 1985, the number and rate of enrollment of recent high school graduates changed dramatically. The total number of graduates in the service area declined 15.5%, from 4,540 in 1983 to 3,835 in 1985; while the number of service area graduates who enrolled at TNCC in the fall quarter of the year they graduated from high school fell from 542 in fall 1983 to 337 in fall 1985, a decline of 37.8%. A look at the plans of 1984 service area graduates for furthering their education shows that 64.7% of the graduates (N=2,676) were planning to participate in some form of postsecondary education. Of that group, 390 enrolled at TNCC, representing only 44.7% of the number who specified that they were planning to attend two-year colleges or proprietary schools. The average high school graduate who enters TNCC during the same year as he/she graduates from high school takes 39.4 credit hours in the 4 years following his/her graduation, compared to an average of 26.1 credit hours taken by other entering students. This means the decline in recent high school graduates enrolled at TNCC will represent an estimated loss of 217 annual full-time equivalent students from 1985-86 to 1987-88. If TNCC is to experience growth in the latter part of the 1980s, service area high school graduates must be recruited more aggressively. (EJV)