County’s Community College Enrollment Tops 30,000

Ventura County’s community colleges reached a six-year peak in enrollment as the number of students climbed above 30,000 for the first time since 1992, college district officials said Wednesday.

The county’s three campuses in Oxnard, Moorpark and Ventura reached more than 30,500 full-time students after the close of enrollment last week.

That constitutes a 9% increase from last fall--and guarantees more revenue from the state for the Ventura County Community College District.

In a rush to meet the demand, many campuses will be using off-campus satellite sites as well as nearby high schools for night classes to handle the spillover.

“You go from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. If there’s no more time and spaces, you can’t grow,” said Elton Hall, a Moorpark teacher and faculty negotiator.

Last week, Hall said, four mobile classrooms were trucked onto the Moorpark campus and set up in anticipation of the onslaught of new students.

The surge in enrollment will qualify the district to receive special growth funds from the state, which could total several millions, officials said.

“We have probably grown enough to get funding for the whole year,” Hall said.

Officials attribute the upswing in part to the lower cost of education, $12 per unit contrasted with several hundred dollars at state universities.

“The community colleges are really the best deal around for your lower division core classes,” said Barbara Buttner, director of public affairs for the college district.

The rebounding economy and the demand for technology training are also boosting the colleges’ enrollment, said Carmen Guerrero-Calderon, president of the Faculty Senate at Oxnard.

“I believe this is a rebirth of education,” said Guerrero-Calderon, who teaches computer classes. “All of our classes at the college are busting. I have standing room only in my classes.”

Because of the growing demand placed on the three local colleges, the state recently granted $2.3 million toward the Partnership for Excellence Program, a fund earmarked for the hiring of more teachers and improving the overall quality of educational instruction.

Next week, the district’s board will vote on whether to use that money on hiring 18 teachers. Oxnard would receive four of those instructors and the other two colleges would receive seven each.

The new teachers could mean as many as 136 additional classes districtwide by next spring. Staff members are now handling the overload by working extra hours.

The enrollment increase and the possibility of new teachers comes after a difficult summer of labor negotiations, including a threat of a teachers’ strike.

The 17-month negotiations are believed, in part, to have kept enrollment figures down last year.

“It was a long and difficult process,” Buttner said. “The students were fearful the faculty would go on strike. I’ve talked to several faculty [members] since then and they’re feeling very positive.”

Since the dispute’s settlement in July, administrators have been gearing up to handle those programs that have the largest demand, such as nursing certificate programs, respiratory therapy and computer programming.

One of the problems they face is keeping up-to-date on technology and information, especially in the computer courses.

“It’s one of those areas that they find themselves scrambling. That is really a dynamic area,” Hall said. “Professors are working extra time at night to keep that place going.”