Junior College Enrollment in L.A. Surges a Surprising 11%

Reversing a precipitous four-year slide, the Los Angeles Community College District has recorded an 11.4% increase in fall enrollment, the second-largest gain in district history.

However, while that news surprised and delighted officials of the nine-campus system, they noted that the district’s overall financial health remains uncertain.

The district now has 104,000 students enrolled, 10,000 more than last year. Although it is still far short of the 140,000 students who attended the colleges in 1981, the percentage of increase was nearly four times the statewide average reported recently by state Chancellor Joshua Smith.

Los Angeles Chancellor Leslie Koltai attributed the enrollment spurt to a number of factors, including changing the start of the fall term from late August to mid-September; expanding course offerings in English and other basic subjects, and making sure that advertised courses were available. The district also spent about $500,000 on advertising, more than in previous years.

“We have worked very hard to achieve this upturn,” said Wallace Albertson, president of the Los Angeles Community College Board of Trustees, “but to be honest, the size of the increase has exceeded our expectations.”

Koltai, while clearly pleased by the enrollment gain, nonetheless described it as “traumatic,” in part because a statewide limit on community college enrollment, imposed by the Legislature in 1980, allows financing for growth of only 1% a year. According to district officials, that means Los Angeles will receive additional state money for only about 1,000 of the 10,000 new students who entered this year. If enrollment continues to rise--and officials say they expect the trend to hold--the district will again be under-financed next year.

Los Angeles officials also learned that Gov. George Deukmejian cut by half the $34 million in special state aid that had been earmarked for college districts that have lost students. Because of the governor’s action, Los Angeles will receive only about half of the $11 million it was qualified to receive and which it included in its 1986-87 budget. Albertson said the board is faced with trimming $5 million to $7 million from the budget to make up for the loss.

In a statement released by the governor’s office, Deukmejian said he intends to restore the aid, but the source of the money remains uncertain. The full $11 million was among about $200 million in education appropriations he vetoed in June because of a disagreement with the Legislature. The governor wanted the Legislature to appropriate the money from a surplus in a state employee pension fund, but the Legislature balked.

The governor now is tying the decrease in community college aid to a long-running accounting dispute with all state community colleges over reimbursement for unemployment insurance. Fred Klass, a legislative adviser for the colleges, said the governor is heeding a recommendation by the state Department of Finance that the colleges’ claim for the compensation be deducted from the enrollment funds.

Urges Emergency Measure

“We are hostages in a drama (that) . . . has nothing to do with community colleges,” Koltai said. He urged the governor and the Legislature to approve an emergency measure restoring the money when the Legislature reconvenes in December.

The chancellor said the loss of the special funds will not make layoffs necessary. In recent years, the district has dismissed clerical and maintenance workers, and last year ordered faculty layoffs for the first time although almost all of the 48 instructors on the layoff list were rehired before the fall term began.

Although it is up to the board to decide where the cutbacks will occur, Koltai suggested that it may be possible to reduce programs that require matching funds and put off filling clerical and maintenance staff positions left vacant because of hiring freezes.

Lease to Help Offset Loss

He also said that $3 million expected from the lease of surplus Pierce College land may be added to the budget to help offset the loss.

Some campuses had to turn away students this year, Koltai said, particularly in English as a second language courses. The district expanded its English offerings this fall, but the demand was so great that, according to the chancellor, the district could easily fill another 150 to 200 classes.