Local Colleges Squeezed by Less Funding, More Students : Education: Demand for classes exceeds money to provide them. Community college officials say state government is making their job impossible.

Most of Orange County’s eight community colleges are bursting at the seams this fall, thanks to the combined effects of the recession, population growth, higher costs and fewer classes at the UC and Cal State campuses, according to fall enrollment statistics.

At Irvine Valley College, enrollment is up 20% over last year, while at the Rancho Santiago College District headquartered in Santa Ana, enrollment is up 11%.

In most cases, however, state funding has not kept pace with student demand, and community college officials--like their counterparts in the California State University and to a lesser degree the University of California--say they have turned away students this fall and offered fewer classes to others.

Community colleges are mandated to accept all who have the desire and ability to learn. But if the state does not provide more money, educators say, the widest portal to higher education and a better standard of living may soon be out of reach for many Californians.

“We’re supposed to be open-access institutions,” said Richard Sneed, chancellor of the Saddleback Community College District, which has turned away 5,000 to 6,000 students this fall at its Irvine Valley and Saddleback colleges. “The door is open. But the classes just aren’t there.”

For Irvine Valley, Orange County’s youngest community college, the gap between demand and dollars has meant raising the student-instructor ratio to 37 to 1 from about 30 to 1. Even so, not everyone has been able to get what they need. President Anna L. McFarlin said some Irvine Valley students are commuting between three and four colleges to get a full load of four or five classes.

“We’ve been growing like crazy, and up until the last few years our funding has always been adequate,” said McFarlin, who became president of the 7-year-old campus in 1989. This year, however, the college is receiving only enough funds for a 4.03% increase in enrollment.

To balance its budget against soaring fall attendance, the college this spring expects to offer about 100 fewer courses, which will drop enrollment below its record high of 10,088.

“It sticks in my throat, but there we are,” said McFarlin. “We cannot afford to educate without being reimbursed. And even with our cuts, we’re still going to be over budget.”

The current crisis is a result of many forces coming together at once.

Educators say state funding for the 107-campus community college system has not kept pace with inflation or the state’s population growth in recent years.

Enrollment statewide now has exceeded 1 million students who are seeking everything from general education courses to eventually transfer to four-year colleges, to job training and classes in English and U.S. citizenship. Census and state Department of Finance projections suggest even faster growth in the number of college-age students in the next 15 years.

At the same time, the economic recession has hit California with a vengeance, forcing deep cuts in the state budget to meet a projected deficit of more than $14 billion. As a result, the University of California raised its student fees 40% and is holding down enrollments this year. The Cal State University system hiked student fees 20% and has had to slash more than 860 non-teaching positions, lay off or not rehire about 3,000 instructors, and drop more than 3,800 classes at its 20 campuses.

The combined effect of these cuts has sent more students to local community colleges, at the same time the economic downturn has drawn many others in search of improved job skills or new careers.

Nor is relief on the horizon.

“It’s just going to get worse,” said Tom K. Harris, chancellor of the North Orange County Community College District, which serves more than 36,000 students at its Fullerton and Cypress campuses, and many more at academic centers in Anaheim and in adult education programs held in elementary schools, churches and storefronts throughout the district.

“We cut $3.7 million in our budget this year. At this point, we’re looking to cut a minimum of $4 million for next year,” Harris said. “I think everyone realizes the state is in a financial bind and the picture is gloomy in the near future.”

Budget cuts this year mainly affected administrative functions rather than the district’s educational product. If cuts are necessary next year, as expected, it will not be possible to offer the same number of courses, Harris said.

“We do have a priority system, and when we get into tight times, we would first cut adult education offerings,” he said, calling that an unfortunate solution since those classes are often a prerequisite for students seeking a college education.

Saddleback district Chancellor Sneed said he and many other community college district leaders intend to put the hard decisions back in the hands of the governor and the state Legislature.

“If they are not going to give us the fuel to run the education system, then tell us whom we’re going to serve,” Sneed said. “We think all our students are deserving, but if they (state officials) are not going to give us the lifeblood to operate, we’ve got to not serve somebody. And boy, that sure isn’t up to the individual colleges. . . . Somebody has got to tell us whom to serve.”

O.C. Community College Enrollment

College Fall 1991 % Change from 1990 Coastline 15,589 +3% Cypress 15,463 +5% Fullerton 21,743 +4% Golden West 15,464 +6% Irvine Valley 10,088 +20% Orange Coast 28,000 +3% Saddleback College 23,715 +5% Rancho Santiago District * 27,672 +11%

*Includes students at Rancho’s Santa Ana and Orange campuses, as well as the district’s three regional education centers in Garden Grove, Santa Ana and Orange and other locations offering non-credit courses.

Researched by DALLAS M. JACKSON / Los Angeles Times