Local College Transfers Lag Behind State, U.S. Averages : Education: Only three in 20 students go on to Cal State or UC campuses, despite the $60 million spent yearly to fund Moorpark, Ventura and Oxnard colleges.

Only three in 20 students enrolled in Ventura County’s community colleges will move on to Cal State or University of California classes in a typical year, a transfer rate that lags behind both state and national averages.

Some drop out, some go to private school. Many junior college students never intend to earn a four-year degree.

Educators who keep track of such numbers say Moorpark, Ventura and Oxnard college administrators are doing their best to prepare students for the university experience.

But a host of factors conspire to keep the number of transfer students relatively low, despite the $60 million or more taxpayers spend each year to fund the three campuses, students and education officials say.

“I dropped out because I had to work to pay my rent,” said 18-year-old Jill Marx, a former Ventura College student who now mixes cappuccino and espresso drinks at a coffeehouse across the street from her old school.

“They wouldn’t give me financial aid because my parents make too much, but I live on my own,” said Marx, who still hopes one day to practice child psychology. “I’d probably have to move home to go back to school.”

Statewide, about one in five community college students make their way to a four-year school in an average year. The ratio jumps to 22% nationally, but in Ventura County, the numbers are lower.

According to a study by the Center for the Study of Community Colleges, a Los Angeles-based research group, only 14.3% of students starting at Ventura College in the fall of 1988 with no college experience completed 12 credits at that campus and enrolled in a UC or CSU class by 1992.

Moorpark College fared slightly better, with 16.6% of its 1988 freshmen enrolling in a UC or CSU course within four years.

The smallest of the three Ventura County campuses, Oxnard College launched just 10.1% of its 1988 freshmen into baccalaureate programs at UC or CSU campuses by 1992, the center said.

“The numbers give us a little more information than we had, but it’s not the final word and it doesn’t tell the whole story,” said Carolyn Inouye, director of institutional research for the Ventura County Community College District.

“Even within our own district, we have different types of students with different backgrounds coming to school for different reasons,” she said.

Percentages of transfer students during the past decade are not available, but specific numbers are.

In the 1984-85 academic year, Moorpark College transferred 442 students to UC, CSU or private schools and jumped to 566 this past school year, according to profiles from the California Postsecondary Education Commission released last month.

Meanwhile, Oxnard College rose from 57 such transfers in 1984-85 to 108 students in 1993-94. Ventura College, however, dropped from 487 transfers 10 years ago to just 414 this past year.

One reason for the decrease may be a shift in the focus of community colleges, a change mandated by state law.

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The state Legislature passed a bill in 1988 restructuring the mission of California’s community colleges and directing the schools to offer a wider variety of classes to residents not intending to transfer to universities.

Now, the majority of students attend California’s 107 junior colleges for other purposes: vocational programs such as nursing or paramedic training; remedial classes such as math or English; and self-improvement courses such as foreign languages or parenting.

“The 1.1 million students in community colleges are not all pursuing a university program,” said Vivian Franco of the CSU chancellor’s office. “Many students are simply pursuing personal skills or vocational goals.”

But for Ventura County students who do want a four-year degree, there are other stumbling blocks that inhibit their prospects for transferring, said Arthur M. Cohen, director of the Center for the Study of Community Colleges.

“If you’re going to transfer you’ve got to have somewhere to go,” said Cohen, noting that Ventura County is the state’s most populated county lacking a public university.

“Most community college students live at home, so when they transfer to CSU it’s a major move,” he said. “If there’s a CSU campus across town or up the street, it makes transferring very handy.”

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Also, Cohen said, UC and CSU campuses tend to attract transfers based on how aggressively they market themselves and tailor course work toward junior college students.

“That makes it a lot easier because the student knows if he takes his classes at a community college, he’s going to get credit and there’s going to be a spot for him in the university,” Cohen said.

Santa Monica College, for example, which leads the state in UC transfers with more than 500 this year, dedicates the bulk of its resources to students intent on earning a four-year degree.

“It’s a controversial issue on campus, but it’s very clearly our college president’s desire that transfers be our primary goal,” Assistant Dean Brenda Johnson said.

Bargain prices for community college courses in California also account for more frequent dropouts, Cohen said.

“You pay your $50, you’re a student and there’s no penalty for dropping out,” he said. “It’s quite different if you’re in a state like Pennsylvania or Massachusetts, where tuition is $1,000 a term. That sort of depresses the flow-through because many of the students coming in haven’t committed to a program.”

Twenty-year-old Dana McBride of Fillmore has committed to a program. She knows it will be a long and arduous effort before she is able to teach high school history. Yet she remains undaunted.

She lives at home and studies American history full time at Ventura College, but works for $5 an hour as a library clerk to pay her bills.

“I’m taking my general (education) so I don’t have to take them in the four-year school,” said McBride, who plans to transfer to Cal State Bakersfield when she gets her associate of arts in history. “Their requirements to get in are easier, they accept more people and it’s cheaper to live there.”

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McBride said many of her classmates are unable to focus on the goal of reaching a university.

“Most of the students who go to community college say they want to transfer, but very few do,” the aspiring educator said. “Either they don’t have the money or they don’t have the motivation to finish.”

Kathleen Nelson, transfer coordinator at the California Community Colleges’ chancellor’s office in Sacramento, also said the transfer rates at Ventura, Oxnard and Moorpark colleges are deceptively low.

“They don’t tell you what the goals are, and many colleges aren’t necessarily geared to transfer students,” she said. “The transfer rate is a good starting point, but it doesn’t paint a realistic picture.”

In order to get a better idea of where community college students are headed, a panel of educators from Cal State, UC, community colleges and private schools in 1990 began tracking nearly 70,000 junior college freshmen.

“We know in raw numbers how many students enter community colleges and we know in raw numbers how many transfer,” said Philip Garcia, an analyst for the CSU chancellor’s office. “But we never knew what proportion of students eventually transfer.”

It is an ongoing study, however, that researchers say will take several years to complete because students often take five, six or more years to earn a bachelor’s degree.

John Cajiuat, 25, doesn’t worry about how long it might take him to finish. He has another two years at Ventura College, and then he hopes to transfer to Stanford or UCLA. After that, he said, medical school awaits.

“The end result is what I’m striving for, not how long it takes me to get there,” the physical science student said.

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Like his classmate McBride, Cajiuat said many of his peers are unmotivated or unfocused.

“Most of the students I’ve seen are here because it’s the logical step after high school,” he said. “Either that, or they’re just here because mom and dad want them to go to college. So they do.”

Joyce Kennedy, director of the Ventura campus of Cal State Northridge, said Ventura County ranks second-lowest of 10 Southern California counties in the number of CSU students--a statistic she attributes to the lack of a public university.

Only rural Imperial County is lower.

“We’re losing one of our best resources: our young bright students,” said Kennedy, adding that the majority of her 1,400 students transfer from local junior colleges. “By and large, most of our students are going elsewhere.”

Enrollment figures from the U.S. Department of Education indicate that there are only 1.8 CSU students per 1,000 Ventura County residents.

By comparison, San Luis Obispo County has almost 80 CSU students per 1,000 residents. Santa Barbara County reports 49.5 CSU students per 1,000 residents and Los Angeles County, with five CSU campuses, averages 16.5 Cal State enrollees per 1,000 people.

“Ventura County has shot itself in the foot several times by being less than hospitable toward the establishment of a university,” Kennedy said, referring to a series of setbacks that have delayed a local CSU campus. “It’s a great disappointment.”

CSU officials have targeted hundreds of acres of lemon groves west of Camarillo for the long-planned Cal State Ventura campus, but construction still is years away while the government seeks to acquire all of the land.

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Still, the 21st-Century Cal State Ventura campus will not help the current crop of Ventura County high school graduates who want to attend a public university near home.

Fillmore High School graduate Elida Bautista would have liked to go to college locally. Instead, the 19-year-old enrolled in Claremont McKenna College, where she just finished her second year and made the dean’s list.

“There is no other option,” said Bautista, who is interning this summer in Washington as a congressional aide. “If you are serious about going to a four-year college, you have to leave the county.”

Student Transfers to the UC and CSU Systems

Percentage of students who started Ventura County community colleges in Fall 1988 with no prior credit and who earned at least 12 units before enrolling in a CSU or UC class by Fall 1992:

Moorpark College: 16.6%

Oxnard College: 10.1%

Ventura College: 14.3%

District average: 14.4%

State average: 19.0%

National average: 22.0%

Sources: The Center for the Study of Community Colleges, Los Angeles; Ventura County Community College District.

Community College Enrollment

Students Full-time Equivalent* Fall 1993 Moorpark College 11,101 3,730 Oxnard College 5,467 1,570 Ventura College 10,586 3,455 Total 27,154 8,755 Spring 1994: Moorpark College 9,607 3,714 Oxnard College 5,021 1,683 Ventura College 9,339 3,611 Total 23,967 9,008

*The state funds the community college district based on the number of full-time equivalent students. A full-time equivalency is calculated at 15 hours of class time per week.

Source: The Ventura County Community College District