Community College Enrollment Falling

Enrollment in the Los Angeles Community College District, the nation’s largest, fell to its second-lowest level in 25 years this fall with seven of the district’s nine campuses showing student losses.

This is the fourth consecutive year of dropping enrollment for the beleaguered community college district, which has lost nearly 20,000 students since 1991--enough to fill an entire college campus.

The total systemwide enrollment of 97,212 represents a 3.3% drop from last year and is more than 40,000 students below the 1981 peak of 137,533. According to a district report released this week, the system has lost a larger share of students in recent years than any of the 12 other community college districts in Los Angeles County.

Los Angeles district administrators blame external factors, including state budget cuts that have eroded their programs, changing student demographics, and student fee hikes. But some observers point the finger at the district’s own policies, such as the shortage of basic skills courses and the dilapidated condition of most campuses.

“The bottom line is we are losing enrollment,” said Chancellor Neil Yoneji. “And the bottom line needs to be strategies other than business as usual” to reverse the trend.

District officials warned this week that the enrollment drop could mean the loss of about $6 million in state money this year.

Except for 1985, when enrollment plunged to 91,799 after the state began charging fees, the Los Angeles district’s enrollment has hit its lowest level since 1970.

The district is also losing students to smaller college districts in the suburbs. More than 52,000 Los Angeles district residents attend classes in other nearby college districts, compared to about 12,000 students from outlying areas who attend Los Angeles campuses, according to a district report.

Citing the declining size of the college-age population in Los Angeles County and its increasing share of poor students, the Los Angeles district’s top researcher has warned that enrollments could drop throughout the decade.

According to the Los Angeles district’s own enrollment survey, its student population dropped 14% between 1991 and 1994, double the decline among surrounding college districts in Los Angeles and Ventura counties. The statewide decline for the period was about 10.4%.

Among the district’s campuses, Southwest College in South Los Angeles suffered the largest one-year decline, with a 12.2% drop. City College, northwest of Downtown, followed with a 5.7% dip and Mission College in Sylmar with 5.6%. Valley College in Van Nuys, the largest campus, posted a 4.8% drop.

The only campuses to register small enrollment gains--less than 1%--were East Los Angeles College and West Los Angeles College.

In Los Angeles County, the pool of college-age residents is expected to shrink this decade. RAND Corp. researchers in Santa Monica recently said the county’s 1990 population of nearly 808,000 college-age students will decline by about a quarter by the year 2000. Statewide, community college officials say their enrollments were hurt by student fee increases in 1992 and 1993, when tuition for a typical student rose from $60 per semester to $195.

Likewise, the recession has trimmed state property tax revenue, and districts such as Los Angeles have had to cut numerous classes, making it difficult for students to take required courses.

A Los Angeles district report on enrollment last year said its campuses have not offered enough entry-level English and math classes to satisfy students. And the report suggested that the district has failed to adequately serve and retain its growing share of Latino students.

Some officials said the Los Angeles district is suffering larger losses because its campuses are poorly maintained and located in rough urban settings, and area students are too poor to afford fee increases.

“The Los Angeles community colleges, compared to Santa Monica or some of these other places, are in more difficult or problematic areas of the city,” said Roger Benjamin, director of RAND’s Institute on Education and Training, which studies enrollment trends.