Community Colleges Lose Enrollment

Enrollment in California community colleges fell 9% this fall--the steepest drop in 15 years--primarily because student fees more than doubled during the last year, according to a report by the system’s administrators.

The state’s 107 community colleges lost an estimated 137,000 students from the fall of 1992 to the fall of 1993, the report said, the biggest decline since a 12.3% drop in 1978, when voter approval of property tax-cutting Proposition 13 led to major budget reductions.

In the Ventura County Community College District, the plunge in enrollment was even more dramatic--about 12% in the 1993 fall semester compared to the previous fall. The most significant drop was at Oxnard College, followed by Ventura College. Moorpark College’s enrollment showed the least amount of change.

David Mertes, chancellor of the state’s community college system, said he had expected a substantial decline this fall, but was surprised by the size of it. And he warned that the financial outlook for community colleges for the coming 1994-95 fiscal year is even worse than in the last several years.

Enrollment in California’s community colleges fell from 1.52 million in the fall of 1992 to about 1.38 million this fall, the lowest fall total in five years, according to the report by Mertes’ staff. The report also estimates that the number of classes offered by community colleges has dropped 10% since 1990.

The state report blames two consecutive years of community college fee increases enacted by the Legislature and Gov. Pete Wilson that have more than doubled per-unit fees for undergraduates. The report says state funding for community colleges in the last several years has not kept pace with enrollment demands and increasing costs.

The report, which was requested by the Legislature in the fall of 1992 when the first fee increases were approved, will be delivered to state legislators just before Wilson unveils his state budget proposal for the coming year, renewing the debate over state funding for colleges and whether to increase student fees again.

Mertes said he hopes to avoid any more fee increases next year. But he said the community college system will be fortunate to hang on to its current budget allocation. “There’s going to have to be some very difficult choices made,” he said.

Cindy Katz, assistant secretary of the governor’s Child Development and Education Office, said elementary and high school education and law enforcement will be Wilson’s highest budget priorities, ranking ahead of colleges.

“It’s still a bargain,” she said of the state’s community college fees, which remain among the lowest in the nation.

The Ventura County college district, which reached its peak enrollment in 1991 with 31,000 students, is now down to about 26,000, said David Fuhrman, director of information systems for the district.

Like their counterparts statewide, Ventura County administrators attributed the decline to the fee increase. While classes cost $6 per unit with a $60 cap in 1992, last fall classes cost $13 per unit with no cap.

“So it costs $195 to take the same 15 units it cost $60 to take last year,” Fuhrman said. “We’re still among the cheapest in the state. But to triple the fees in one year is a tremendous burden on the students.”

About 7% of the statewide enrollment drop occurred between the fall, 1992, and spring, 1993, semesters when 106,200 students left just as the first of two fee increases took effect, the report says. An additional 2%, or about 31,000 students, left the system between the spring and fall, 1993, semesters when the second increase took effect, the report says.

Of the combined 137,000-student decline in enrollment by this fall, Mertes’ report estimated that more than half were students who already had bachelor’s degrees. Starting this spring, fees for those with bachelor’s degrees increased from $6 per unit to $50 per unit, or $750 per semester for a full 15-unit class load.

About 47% of the enrollment drop was attributed to students without bachelor’s degrees.

The report also argued that there are as many as 140,000 potential students who want to enroll but cannot because of a shortage of classes in core subjects such as English and math. Total course section offerings statewide have fallen from about 140,000 in 1990 to about 126,000 this fall, a 10% reduction.

Chuck McIntyre, director of research for the California Community Colleges system, said increases in student fees historically have had the most direct impact on enrollment declines.

According to the report, the higher fees led to disproportionate losses of minority students and those already enrolled, as opposed to new students. Had student fees not been increased, the report estimated that enrollment would have increased slightly from fall, 1992, to spring, 1993.

* UC FEE HIKE: University of California professional schools raise tuition. A3