Enrollment Up 3% Since Last Fall at Local Colleges

Overall student enrollment at Ventura County’s community colleges increased by more than 3% this semester, with growth at Oxnard College hitting a record high, officials confirmed this week.

“Bottom line, it means more money for the three colleges, which means we can hire more teachers and offer more classes for students,” said Yvonne Bodle, spokeswoman for the Ventura County Community College District. Total enrollment at the three colleges is 31,526.

Enrollment figures determine an essential funding component because districts are paid by the state for each full-time student they serve. The local district receives about $3,200 a student.

Of the county’s three colleges, Oxnard College reported a 8.6% enrollment increase since last fall, while Moorpark College grew by 4.6%. Although Ventura College dropped about 0.5%, officials there say some new student registrations have still not been factored in.

The local growth rate roughly corresponds with that of community colleges statewide, which is expected to rise 3% to 4% this year. When the final numbers are tallied next month, about 1.5 million students are expected to be enrolled in the state’s two-year schools, according to Kyle Orr, spokesman for the California community college chancellor’s office.

“Such a number would constitute a historic high for the community college system,” Orr said.

A lower head count at Ventura College is a result of late-starting classes and new programs, said Larry Calderon, college president.

“It has nothing to do with the quality of instruction at Ventura College,” said Anthony Tricoli, associate vice chancellor of student learning.

Classes at the Santa Paula satellite campus, which is run by Ventura College, were delayed until mid-September to complete an expansion and remodeling project.

Although overall head counts were tallied early this month, several hundred students have signed up for classes in recent weeks, said Susan Bricker, the college’s registrar.

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The school’s head count also doesn’t reflect growth expected by the college’s new partnership with the sheriff’s academy, which gives cadets college credit during their officer training.

“We have two major initiatives that have not yet provided a return,” Calderon said.

But officials concede that Ventura College, with 11,310 students, has to work harder when it comes to recruiting. Situated between the ocean and mountains, the city’s population is not growing as fast as other county communities.

Oxnard College, for example, hit a historic high by registering 7,140 students this fall.

“Oxnard College is taking off like a rocket,” college President Steven Arvizu said.

For example, hundreds of new students flooded the registrar’s office early this fall to sign up for new and expanded programs. Among the most popular is a program that allows working adults to earn their associate’s degree in two years. The Program for Accelerated College Education has lured more than 400 students.

The school has also expanded child care, counseling and other support services to draw new students and keep others.

Administrators have no plans to rest on their laurels. They are developing new programs in engineering, multimedia and computer science.

“We think that Oxnard College will double in size in the next eight years,” Arvizu said.

Across the county at Moorpark College, officials say only a few more new students signed up for classes than expected. But President James Walker is thrilled to see the growth.

He attributes the more than 500 new students to the college’s strong reputation. Plus, he said, evening and weekend classes that the school has offered for two years are starting to catch on. Moorpark College’s total student enrollment is 13,076.

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Swelling enrollment numbers statewide are expected to continue during the next decade, according to a study released this week by the California Post-secondary Education Commission. By 2010, more than 2 million students are expected to be enrolled in California community colleges, an increase of nearly 36%.

Local officials say they are preparing for a flood of students, which has been dubbed Tidal Wave II. The first so-called tidal wave crashed into schools when baby boomers started college. Now, their children are entering the halls of higher education.

More than 150 county community college administrators, instructors and staff members are participating in a “Futures Forum”--an ongoing discussion in what the district needs to do to prepare for the onslaught of students.

In its first major meeting, slated for late October, Bodle said college officials will begin to address one major question: “How are we going to serve Ventura County better in the year 2010?”