L.A. Colleges Lose Students for 4th Year

By JOHN CHANDLER

Oct. 27, 1995 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

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 losses.

This is the fourth consecutive year of plummeting 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 students. According to a district report released this week, the system has lost a larger share of students in recent years than any of the other 12 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 education 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,” Chancellor Neil Yoneji said. “And the bottom line needs to be strategies other than business as usual” to reverse the trend.

The district’s three San Fernando Valley campuses all contributed to the decline, with enrollment losses this fall hovering in the middle of the pack among district schools.

Valley College in Van Nuys, the district’s largest campus with 15,450 students, saw its enrollment fall 4.8% to the school’s lowest level since 1965, the year of Los Angeles’ Watts riots.

Pierce College in Woodland Hills, which had incurred the district’s largest enrollment declines in recent years, dropped another 2.9%, to 14,192 students, the lowest level since 1968. And Mission College in Sylmar dipped 5.6%, to 5,502 students, its lowest mark since 1988.

Last fall, the Valley campuses incurred some of the district’s most severe enrollment drops after the Northridge earthquake, which district officials say affected other campuses as well.

District officials warned this week that the enrollment drop could mean the loss of about $6 million in state money this year, as community college funding is tied in large part to enrollment levels.

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 Los Angeles 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, contrasted with about 12,000 students from outlying areas who attend Los Angeles campuses, according to a district report.

And, 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 continue to drop through the decade.

According to the Los Angeles district’s own survey, its student enrollment dropped about 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 Los Angeles district’s campuses, Southwest College in South Los Angeles recorded the largest one-year decline in the district, with a 12.2% drop. City College, northwest of Downtown, followed with a 5.7% dip, with Mission College ranking third in declines.

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

And in Los Angeles County, the pool of college-age residents is expected to shrink during 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 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 to $195 a semester.

Likewise, the recession has trimmed state property tax revenue, a major source of community college funding, 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 the district has failed to adequately serve and retain its growing share of Hispanic students.

“We have fewer classes and declining enrollments. It’s a vicious cycle,” said Patricia Siever-Henderson, an instructor at Pierce College. The students “are abandoning us. We’re not offering on the campuses what they need.”

But other officials said the Los Angeles district is suffering larger losses because its campuses are poorly maintained and situated in rough urban settings, and the students it attracts 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 has been researching enrollment trends.

“Look at the Los Angeles district’s service area, and by and large, you’re looking at a lower-income profile. Therefore, you would expect the inner-city districts to be affected more” by rising costs, added Chuck McIntyre, director of research for the California Community College system.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Troubled District

Enrollment in the Los Angeles Community College District, the nation’s largest, fell to its second-lowest level in 25 years this fall, spurred by declines at seven of its nine campuses.

The Los Angeles Community College District’s 1995 total enrollment of 97,212 marks the district’s fourth consecutive year of decline. . .

(In thousands)

1970: 97,176

1981: 137,533

1985: 91,799

1995: 97,212

Five-year change (1990-1995): -16.9%

. . . But it also has lost a larger share of students in recent years than other college districts in Los Angeles County.

Antelope Valley Community College District

Five-year change: -13.5%

Santa Clarita Community College District

Five-year change: -1.4%