WOODLAND HILLS : Pierce College Enrollment Drops 10% From Last Year

In recent years, the start of a new semester at Pierce College in Woodland Hills has meant long lines of students waiting hours to enroll in classes that often had been filled. But this year, lines were short and many classes were open.

As of Friday, overall enrollment at Pierce was down 10%, officials said. Last year, the college had registered about 18,000 students the week before the spring semester. This year, Norlund estimated, the number was closer to 16,000. The two other San Fernando Valley campuses in the Los Angeles Community College District also reported slight decreases--Mission College had enrolled about 700 fewer students than expected and the Sylmar campus was down by at least 500.

At Valley College in Van Nuys, where 15,600 students had completed registration as of last week, enrollment of continuing and new students was slightly down. Throughout the district, enrollment was down 6.9% from last year.