Community Colleges’ Rolls Up

A healthier economy, no fee increases and returning older students are expected to contribute to a modest boost in enrollment at Orange County’s eight community colleges this fall.

Community college officials project their campuses will host about 132,600 students--5,600 more than last year--when classes begin this semester.

Classes for six of the county’s community colleges--Cypress, Golden West, Orange Coast, Irvine Valley, Fullerton and Saddleback--begin today. The two other community colleges, Rancho Santiago and Coastline, open Aug. 26 and Sept. 9, respectively.

Among the county’s community colleges, Rancho Santiago enrollments jumped the most compared to last year--about 1,750 students, or 8%. College officials believe the relatively high number of high school seniors graduating in Santa Ana, where Rancho Santiago is located, and an improved economy are responsible for the bigger totals.

“This is a significant jump,” said Hal Bateman, dean of enrollment at Rancho Santiago. “We are glad to have them here.”

The countywide enrollment gains were surprising because they come at a time when the pool of graduating high school seniors is at its lowest point in decades, college officials said.

Because of demographic changes, community colleges this semester could draw from only 21,900 graduating high school seniors, compared to 26,125 in 1980. Graduating high school seniors traditionally make up the bulk of community college students, officials said.

A key to the enrollment increase, said local educators, was an end to the recession in Orange County. During the economic downturn, enrollment dipped by more than 10,000 because many young students were forced to abandon the classroom to earn extra money for their families, officials said.

“Many students at community colleges are from poorer families,” said Jorge R. Sanchez, director of institutional research at Coastline Community College. “Particularly, when the economy is bad, they can’t just take a leisurely two years to study. The realities are they have to get a job.”

The repeal of an unpopular enrollment fee in January also helped bring thousands of students back to the classroom this fall, officials said. In an effort to ease classroom overcrowding, the state Legislature had imposed an extra $50 per unit fee on students who already held a bachelor’s degree. The move, which brought the cost of some classes to $189, caused an estimated 12,000 students in Orange County to stop taking classes.

In spite of intensive advertising about the fee’s cancellation, students with college degrees returned to community colleges this spring in the hundreds, not in the thousands, as originally expected by county educators.

“The word has been slowly getting out there, but fall is really the more traditional time to return to school,” said Nancy Kidder, dean of admissions at Orange Coast College, which has already signed up 525 more such students this semester than last. Total enrollment increased almost 1% to 21,102 this year.

“This fee was very hard to justify to students,” Kidder added.

Critics of the increased fee on those who already had their bachelor’s degrees said it unfairly hurt people who were retraining for the new jobs or those who needed to upgrade their skills with college courses.

“If they would have used gender, race or age as a criteria, there would have been a lawsuit, big time,” Sanchez said. “But because they discriminated against educated people, who have no constituency group, the state got away with it--for a while.”

College officials also credited stable classroom fees with retaining continuing students and attracting new ones. There were no fee increases for California students who pay $13 per unit or about $39 per class.

Student Bodies

Enrollments at seven of Orange County’s eight community colleges will likely be larger this fall than they were last year. Six of the eight begin classes Monday; Rancho Santiago and Coastline Community somewhat later. Fall 1995 registration compared to 1996 estimates: *--*

College 1995 1996 Coastline Community 12,000 13,500 Cypress 12,022 12,752 Fullerton 16,946 17,717 Golden West 11,143 10,598 Irvine Valley 10,465 10,900 Orange Coast 20,991 21,102 Rancho Santiago 21,802 23,546 Saddleback 21,075 22,000

*--*

Source: Individual colleges; Researched by MARTIN MILLER / Los Angeles Times