Costa Mesa : Coast Students Like Late-Starting Classes

Community college students like the opportunity of taking “late-starting” classes in the fall, according to a survey made by the Coast Community College District research office.

The district, which has its headquarters in Costa Mesa, governs Golden West College in Huntington Beach, Coastline Community College, based in Fountain Valley, and Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa. With about 55,000 students, the district is second only to the Los Angeles Community College District in the number of students enrolled.

In 1984, the Coast district changed its fall schedule to begin classes in August, rather than in September. But because some students had summer jobs and could not enroll then, the district began offering late-starting classes that began about three weeks after regular classes opened in August.

A survey of those taking fall, 1985, late-starting classes found that 91% of the students polled said they wanted such classes in both fall and spring semesters. The poll found that 79% of the students taking the late-starting classes were employed, and more than half of those students were working 40 or more hours a week.

Despite the fact that most of the late-start enrollees were full-time workers, the poll found that almost a third of them (31%) took a full academic load of 12 hours or more a semester.