UP AND UP: Community college enrollment (above)...

UP AND UP: Community college enrollment (above) has been climbing steadily in Orange County since it bottomed out in 1985, the year tuition was introduced. . . . Now, with the talk of recession, administrators are expecting even greater gains. “Historically, when employment gets tight, people go back to school,” says one administrator. . . . Has it begun already? Opening-day enrollment at Orange Coast College, the county’s biggest, was up 15%, but officials say they are unsure of the reason.

COMMUNITY COLLEGE ENROLLMENT RISING

Orange County’s full- and part-time fall enrollment, in thousands of students:

‘81: 206

‘83: 170

* ‘85: 155

‘87: 167

‘89: 184

* Tuition introduced statewide

Source: Calif. Dept. of Finance