Classroom Crush

Buoyed by a surge in enrollment and additional state funding, community colleges are opening this week and next with optimism about their expanding role, including educating thousands of welfare recipients who must be trained for new jobs.

The state budget signed into law Monday by Gov. Pete Wilson allocates $3 billion statewide to community colleges, about $430 million more than last year. A large chunk of that money, about $65 million, is earmarked for programs designed to move welfare recipients quickly through school and into jobs.

“We are pleased with the budget and feel the governor and Legislature have balanced a lot of competing interests,” said Tom Nussbaum, chancellor of the California Community Colleges, which serves 1.4 million students statewide.

Nussbaum projected a 10% increase in enrollment for the fall. But the system, whose $13-per-unit fee remains the same, still has a way to go before returning to the 1.51 million students it enrolled in 1991 before the recession hit.

In Orange County, welfare reform is not the only factor in rising enrollment. General population growth and expanded course schedules also account for increases, on some campuses as much as 11.8%. Demand led Coastline Community College to open a new satellite learning center in Garden Grove this year, and other colleges are expanding or starting weekend offerings.

In fact, some college officials said they might have to scale back offerings in the spring--and thus admit fewer students--because the enrollment crush may strain instructional resources.

Though instruction began Monday at several of Orange County’s nine community colleges, complete enrollment numbers will not be available until mid-September or later. Registration figures so far indicate that most campuses will see an increase.

At Santa Ana College, whose students are the most destitute in the county, enrollment is projected to rise 3%, with students on welfare accounting for much of the increase. Officials said about a quarter of their students receive some form of welfare, mostly Aid to Families with Dependent Children.

As with welfare students countywide, their class schedules will be monitored by county social service workers to ensure the courses will lead to employment. The welfare reform that takes effect Jan. 1 sets an 18- to 24-month limit for recipients to receive benefits and requires them to seek jobs or enroll in employment training.

“There certainly is going to be a significant impact on this [district] with welfare reform,” said John Nixon, executive dean of instruction for the Rancho Santiago Community College District, which this year split into two campuses: Santa Ana and Santiago Canyon in Orange.

Already, administrators are evaluating current job-training programs to ensure that they match the needs of the labor market. Other courses and programs will be repackaged to “make them better suited for short-term delivery,” Nixon said.

At Cypress College, enrollment appears to be down almost 3%, to 12,390 students. But spokeswoman Donna Hatchett of the North Orange County Community College District, which includes Cypress and Fullerton colleges, said 1,000 impoverished students--a majority of whom are on welfare--have been approved for financial aid but have not yet enrolled, perhaps waiting to hear about employment prospects.

Officials at South Orange County Community College District, which comprises Saddleback and Irvine Valley colleges, said their district’s 3% to 5% increase in enrollment surpassed the 1.19% growth funding the state allocated based on last year’s student population figures.

Chancellor Robert Lombardi said money is already tight, requiring withdrawal from reserves, and the district is hoping to get some cash from the county’s bankruptcy recovery settlement.

Budget constraints may mean that some courses in the spring quarter will be dropped, Lombardi said.

“We have a schedule a little larger than the state will fund,” he said. “We will either have to trim the schedule or manage the budget very carefully. One way you do that is by making sure classes that are not economically feasible to operate don’t stay in the schedule.”

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Fall Enrollment Rising

Most of Orange County’s community colleges expect a year-to-year increase in fall enrollment. Here are the percentage changes in enrollment and date classes begin. In most cases, registration continues through the end of the month:

Irvine Valley: 11.8%

Saddleback: 8.5%

Fullerton: 3.1%

Cypress: -2.84%

Rancho Santiago*: 3.1%

Coastline: 6%

Golden West College: 1.5%

Orange Coast College: 1.03%

* Combines Santa Ana and Santiago Canyon colleges

Note: All colleges started Monday except Saddleback and Rancho Santiago (Aug.25) and Coastline (Sept. 8)

Source: Individual community colleges