Countywide : Enrollment Rises at Community Colleges

Increasing costs at California’s four-year universities have led to a rise in enrollment at all three Ventura County Community College District campuses, officials said Monday.

Officials said the enrollment boom was spurred by students who already attend four-year universities signing up to take basic required courses at Moorpark, Oxnard or Ventura colleges.

Tuition increases at the four-year universities may have made the low prices at the community colleges seem too good a bargain to pass up, said Moorpark College spokesman Gerry Olsen.

Summer enrollment at Moorpark College was up 13.3%, Olsen said, with 4,887 students signed up this summer versus 4,312 last summer.

“About 40% to 50% of our summer students are four-year university students who come back here to take general education classes,” Olsen said. “Fees at our level are definitely lower for summer classes than they are at the four-year level.”

Officials at Ventura College reported an 11.1% increase in summer enrollment, from 3,927 students in 1991 to 4,366 students this year.

Ventura College officials agreed that the major cause of the increase was rising tuition costs at the four-year level.

“This is an economic thing,” said John Woolley, vice president of student services at Ventura College. “That’s what we are hearing most from the students who are coming back here.”

The result of the influx of students has been that many general education classes--such as math, English and the sciences--were listed as full the day instruction began, Woolley said.

“Though there was only an occupancy rate of 79% to 80% across the campus, in terms of classes available, the bread-and-butter general education classes were closed very early,” Woolley said.

Oxnard College reported a 6.1% increase, officials said, with 2,378 students attending summer classes in 1991 versus 2,523 this year.

The budget impasse in Sacramento could lead to tuition costs more than tripling at community colleges across the state, Olsen said.