Long College Sign-Up Lines Return to 2 Area Schools : Education: After a fall when enrollment dropped 12%, district officials are projecting spring registration that matches or even surpasses that of spring, 1993.

Registration lines snaked around buildings Monday at Oxnard and Ventura colleges, leaving a visible testament to official projections that the enrollment decline is slowing in the Ventura County Community College District.

After a fall semester when class enrollment dropped by 12% contrasted with the previous year, district officials are projecting a spring enrollment that matches or even surpasses that of spring, 1993.

“I’m very pleased,” said Jeff Marsee, the district’s vice chancellor for administrative services. “I think we’re stopping the decline.”

District officials launched a countywide advertising campaign last fall to entice students back to Moorpark, Oxnard and Ventura colleges after higher fees and a reduced selection of classes sent registration numbers plunging. So far, the effort seems to be working.

With mail-in registration completed, the number of classes students have signed up for is down only 1.8% from last spring, though the actual number of students enrolling is down 4.4%, officials said.

The class enrollment figure is the one officials worry most about because it determines state funding. At this point last fall, class enrollment numbers were already down about 5%, Marsee said.

Community college enrollment fell across the state this fall as student fees rose from $10 per unit to $13. District officials say they hope they will not lose state money, despite the colleges’ enrollment decline, because so many other districts have lost students as well this year.

In-person registration began Monday at Ventura and Oxnard colleges, and starts Wednesday at Moorpark College.

Students registering at Oxnard and Ventura colleges Monday said they resent last fall’s fee increase and are angered by Gov. Pete Wilson’s proposal Friday to raise fees even further next fall, to $20 per unit.

“The fees are too much already,” said David Dalton, 18, registering at Oxnard College. “If they raise them further, I can kiss my college education goodby.”

Marisa Bentley, 18, beginning her second semester at Ventura College, was outraged at the mere idea of another fee increase. “That’s terrible,” she said. “Here I am, trying to get an education without asking my parents for help, and this will just make it take longer.”

Most students at both colleges said the classes they wanted were still open on the first day of registration, though a few registering at Oxnard College were disappointed.

Shawuntiel Johnson, for instance, found that the one math class she had hoped to take at Oxnard College was already closed by Monday afternoon. “Well, I’m going to sign up at Ventura College tomorrow,” said Johnson, 26.

Returning students, many of whom have followed the faculty’s battle for higher salaries, said they hope their spring classes are not interrupted by a strike. Some faculty members have threatened to walk off the job if their contract negotiations remain stalled, as they have been for months.

“I’d be mad” if teachers strike, said Dennis Witzke, 27, a sailor with the Navy who will finish his degree work at Ventura College this spring. “I’ve already had to cancel a few semesters because the military sent me away. I’d be really bummed.”

Many first-time students, however, were unaware of the issue and just were excited to be on a college campus registering for classes.

“I’m nervous,” conceded David Hickok, 34, returning to school for the first time since high school graduation. Hickok, a tool-and-dye maker, registered for one class in mechanical blueprint reading at Ventura College. He chose the class because he already knows the subject and thought it would be a good way to ease back into academics, he said.

“I want to make my job a little better, make more money, move on,” he said. “I’m coming here hopefully to have a better future.”