Enrollment Falls at 2-Year Campuses in County : Education: The number of students attending colleges in Moorpark, Oxnard and Ventura has dropped an average of 12.6% contrasted with last fall. Tuition increase gets much of the blame.

With state colleges charging higher fees for a smaller selection of classes, enrollment is down by thousands of students at Ventura County community colleges this fall, officials said Monday.

Enrollment at Moorpark, Oxnard and Ventura colleges is down by an average of 12.6% contrasted with last fall.

College officials blamed the drop on the state’s decision to increase tuition as much as threefold for some full-time students and charge extra fees for people who already have bachelor’s degrees.

“It’s economic,” said Lyn MacConnaire, Ventura College’s vice president of instruction. “The one variable that’s changed is the amount of money it takes to go to college. I know that for some people who are single parents who are working, that’s going to be a very big consideration.”

Only last spring, students attending two-year community colleges paid $10 per course unit--most classes carry three units--up to a maximum of $60 per semester.

But this summer the state increased the cost to $13 per course unit and got rid of the per-semester cap.

So, students taking 15 units per semester are paying $195, more than three times the $60 maximum they paid last year, college officials said.

And under fee increases that took effect in January, students who already have bachelor’s degrees must pay $50 on top of the regular course fees.

“It’s been a fairly sudden change for a number of people and it’s happening at a time when the economy is also adversely affecting their incomes,” MacConnaire said.

What’s more, more than 300 classes have been cut at the three campuses since last fall because of budget constraints.

Oxnard College suffered the biggest enrollment decline, with 5,373 students signing up for classes this fall contrasted with 6,540 last year, a 17.8% drop.

Besides the higher course fees, Oxnard College had another problem this semester: The federal government canceled its loan program after a study showed the school had one of the highest loan-default rates in the state, said Larry Calderon, the college’s vice president for instruction.

The federal study released last month showed that 33% of former Oxnard College students who had used student loans to pay for school defaulted on them.

But Calderon said the government study was skewed and that the default rate is only 16%. He said the college is appealing the government’s decision and hopes to offer the loan program again.

This semester, however, the college not only lost its loan program, it lost one of its three staff members in the financial aid department due to budget cuts, which was frustrating to students seeking help to pay for college, Calderon said.

“There was a barrage of applications of students trying to get aid, but no money to give them and no one there to help them,” he said.

Even at Moorpark College in the more affluent eastern part of the county, the financial aid office was deluged with applications this semester, officials said.

Enrollment at Moorpark fell by 1,121, to 10,957 this semester, a 9.3% drop, while at Ventura College 1,554, or 13.2% fewer students signed up this fall contrasted with last year.

And county college officials said the drops mirror a statewide trend, with preliminary figures showing that enrollment at most community colleges has dropped by at least 8%.

Despite the enrollment decline, Moorpark College President Jim Walker said community college officials have no chance of persuading state lawmakers to reverse the fee increases.

“If anything, we’re going to be lucky to hold them at $13 per unit,” he said. “But the idea of the community college is access. We’ve been proud all these years to say we’re here for anybody that wants to come. Now we’re excluding people because they can’t afford it.”

And MacConnaire at Ventura College said she believes studies of this semester’s enrollment patterns will show that the higher costs are forcing out the poorest groups in society.

“I won’t be surprised to find that the people most adversely affected are minorities, women, single parents,” she said. “We could be losing some very good students.”

Tuition has also gone up at two other colleges in the county: the Cal State Northridge satellite campus in Ventura and the private Cal Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks.

But enrollment at these schools--which are both far more expensive than community colleges--is holding steady, officials said.

At Cal Lutheran, where tuition has increased from $10,800 per year to $11,860, about 1,850 students have enrolled this fall, slightly more than last year, spokeswoman Jean Sandlin said.

And at Cal State Northridge-Ventura, where costs have increased from $760 per semester to $854 for full-time students, the school has an enrollment of 560 full-time equivalents, which is even with last year, Director Joyce Kennedy said.

Because the Cal State campus in Ventura offers only higher-level undergraduate and graduate courses, most of its students are transfers from the two-year community colleges.

Kennedy said students are still coming to the school despite the fee increases because it is the only public university in the county.

Fewer Students

Enrollment is down at Ventura County’s three community colleges:

Moorpark College Oxnard College Ventura College Down 9.3% Down 17.8% Down 13.2% 1992 12,078 6,540 11.812 1993 10,957 5,373 10,258

Source: Community colleges