Cuts May Mean Bleak Picture for TV Courses : Education: Coastline Community College says its telecourses, serving about 4,000 students, would suffer if Congress reduces funds to public television.

Once her children are tucked in bed, Carolann Young, 36, pops in a video and tunes into her recorded political science class.

“This is the only way I can earn my degree and raise three children,” said Young, a homemaker and straight-A student juggling five classes and three children, ages 3, 9 and 10. “Without telecourses, I would never finish my education.”

Like some 4,000 Orange County students enrolled at Coastline Community College, Young, who is pursing a teaching credential, depends on telecourses. Since 1976, the documentary-style classes have been aired on KOCE-TV, Orange County’s public television station in Huntington Beach.

Today, 25% of Coastline’s 16,000 students are enrolled in telecourses, a trend among adults who cannot afford to be on campus.

But because this program functions in cooperation with KOCE, telecourses stand on shaky ground as the Republican-led effort to end federal funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting continues to unfold in Washington.

The station’s administrators say that federal cuts would probably reduce the popular video-course offerings.

“How funding cuts would affect telecourse is unknown at this time,” KOCE President Bill Furniss said. If Congress eliminates funding, “KOCE would work closely with Coastline to determine other options.”

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which distributes funds to public television and radio stations around the United States, received $285 million from the federal government for the current fiscal year.

On average, federal funds make up about 14% of each station’s budget. At KOCE, the figure is 18% of its $5-million budget.

Although KOCE is in his area, U.S. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Huntington Beach) hopes to end federal funding for public broadcasting, contending that it is unnecessary government spending in hard economic times.

“The CPB is a government supplied entertainment and information entity,” Rohrabacher said. “If we’re going to have to cut Medicaid and health services over public television, that’s ridiculous.”

Uncertain of the program’s fate, Furniss said his staff intends a “vigorous defense” and plans an aggressive letter-writing campaign.

Discussions on funding for public broadcasting will continue on Capitol Hill in coming weeks. The House Appropriations Committee may receive subcommittee recommendations by the end of the month.

The unsettled issue has worried Coast Community College District administrators. Coastline President Leslie Purdy, who led efforts to make the community college the nation’s leading telecourse institution, said that any funding reductions would be like “someone taking away a classroom site.”

Babette Turk, 29, a working mother of three, said schooling would have been an impossibility without telecourses. Last fall, her son was born five days before midterms.

“I was pregnant while taking five classes,” and working 40 hours a week, Turk said. “I would have been devastated if telecourses weren’t available.”

Turk, who is almost finished with her general education units, plans to transfer to Cal State Fullerton next fall to study international business.

Although close to the home stretch, this semester is her toughest because none of the required classes she’s taking is offered through telecourses. Managing commutes between work, home and school, she’s swept into a daily whirlwind.

“It’s not only costing me money but time away from my children,” Turk said.

Most telecourse students usually set their VCRs to record the courses or rent them from the college in video, and study at their convenience. Study guides, an assigned Coastline instructor and course material supplement each telecourse.

Weekly assignments and quizzes are mailed or faxed to the instructor, who is available during office or phone hours. Midterm and final exams are taken at a campus site. Whether it’s Chinese brush painting, geology or English literature, each telecourse usually airs two lessons a week over a 15-week semester. The series include science experts, historians and essayists like Maya Angelou.

In 1993, a Coastline telecourse titled “Time to Grow” about child development won an Emmy award from the Academy of Television Arts and Science.

KOCE, which stands for Orange County Education, is licensed by Coast Community College District. Other schools in the district, such as Orange Coast and Golden West colleges, grant credit for the televised courses.

“It is one of the models in the country,” said Jinny Goldstein, a vice president of the Public Broadcasting System, a network of private, nonprofit television stations.

Telecourses cost roughly $1 million apiece to produce, Purdy said, but they are widely used by a network of colleges in the United States and other countries, such as the Netherlands and Australia.

“This is a very cost-effective infrastructure,” Purdy said. “The production costs may be high initially, but we can use these programs for years.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Television Teaching

About 25% of the students at Coastline Community College are enrolled in telecourses, classes produced by and aired on KOCE-TV, Orange County’s public television station. Fall course enrollments: ‘94: 4,044 Source: Coastline Community College