Frances Lucas-Tauchar, the new president of Millsaps College, has an interesting puzzle to solve. How does a college president go about increasing student enrollment, maintaining high-quality academic programs and still keep the education affordable?

It's a tough question, she said, but she's working on it.

Millsaps, located in Jackson, is a private college with just under 1,300 students. It is affiliated with the United Methodist Church, has an even split between in-state and out-of-state students and has a student-to-faculty ratio of just 13-to-1.

Lucas-Tauchar became the 10th president of the college in July, when she replaced longtime president George Harmon. She is the first woman president in the school's 110-year history. Lucas-Tauchar was in town Monday to speak to the Tupelo Rotary Club and the editorial board of the Daily Journal.

Millsaps, she said, occupies a unique educational spot.

"We offer something very distinct, very unique," she said. "We offer an opportunity for a student to study in an intimate environment with some of the best professors. We have a very special program. It's an honors college from one end to the other."

The average ACT score at Millsaps is 26, Lucas-Tauchar said. The school also can boast a 76 percent graduation rate and it has had a chapter of the academic honorary society, Phi Beta Kappa, for more than 10 years. Millsaps also has one of the highest acceptance rates of its students into medical schools, 65 percent, compared to the 35 percent national average.

In addition to targeting Tupelo and other small cities, Lucas-Tauchar said Millsaps will begin an intensive student recruitment effort in several large cities, including Memphis, Birmingham, Baltimore, Chicago and Houston.

"We want to grow a little, but not a lot," she said. "We want to grow to about 1,400 to 1,450. We've had those numbers before in our past and it's gone very well. We believe that's the optimum number. Those are cities, first of all, that have direct flights to Jackson. That's important. We're looking at cities where we believe a lot of great students are, students who are going to be interested in a superior academic program and who also have big hearts and want to be civic leaders. That's been a real brand for Millsaps, to turn out people who literally want to go forth and change the world."

But recruiting superior students and keeping the student-teacher ratio low is impossible to do without money. Lucas-Tauchar said 98 percent of Millsaps students receive some sort of financial aid. The college is funded through fundraisers, student tuition and assistance from the United Methodist Church. With a yearly tuition of just under $14,000, keeping Millsaps affordable is difficult. Lucas-Tauchar said she is willing to try.

"It's going to be hard to do," she said. "The challenge is huge for any president right now. The tuition rates do advance over inflation and have for many years because it's so much more expensive to run a college. In order to keep it from hitting families, we will work just like every other college to do a lot of fundraising. Those that are grateful for what they have can give to those who have less."

"We're going to do a lot of grant writing with foundations and just continue to make as many smart decisions as we can about money. You've just hit my No. 1 challenge dead on the head."