SYLMAR : College Sees Loss of ESL Students

While other educational institutions lost entire buildings to the Jan. 17 earthquake, Mission College has been struggling with a more perplexing loss--its English-language students.

Exact attendance figures have not been compiled, but Carlie Tronto, dean of academic affairs at the Sylmar campus, said more than two dozen course sections were canceled or combined due to lack of students.

Nineteen of those sections were in the English-as-a-second-language (ESL) department, which can attract about 1,500 to 2,000 students a semester, according to Tronto. Peer colleges throughout the city experienced similar attendance drops, but not so persistent or deep as at Mission College, she said.

“For some reason, we are not getting them back,” Tronto said of the ESL students, many of whom are Latino immigrants. “We can only assume that they lost homes or they rearranged their priorities.”

College spokeswoman Ina Geller said the college will not penalize the students for returning late.

Meanwhile, the college’s private foundation is offering $100 grants for books and supplies to students affected by the quake, said Rosalinda Gonzales, executive director of the Los Angeles Mission College Foundation. So far, the organization has raised $5,000 from GTE California and is seeking other corporate donors, she added.

“We have so many students who have been impacted by this, who say, ‘I just had to move, I have no money for books, I have no money for transportation,’ ” Gonzales said.

Students need only fill out a simple application, which should be available this week in the financial aid office, Gonzales said. Applicants will not be required to prove their loss for the grant, which is operating on an honor basis, she said.

“We feel real good about our students,” Gonzales said. “Most of them come from a lower economic situation. Even before the earthquake, there probably was a need.”