Enrollment Up 10% at Valley, Pierce Colleges

Fall enrollment at Pierce and Valley colleges has jumped 10% over a year ago, while Mission College is up 5%, campus officials said Thursday.

With a few days before the start of the fall semester, Pierce’s total fall enrollment is 14,256, compared with 12,992 a year ago, Pierce spokesman Mike Cornner said.

“We expect 14,500 on opening day [Tuesday] and 15,000 by the end of the first week,” Cornner said. “That’s huge for us.”

Valley College also had a 10% enrollment increase over last fall, said the school’s administrative analyst, Bill Gasper. Mission College spokeswoman Shirley Hollingsworth said enrollment at the Sylmar campus was up 5% over last year. Glendale College enrollment is about the same as last fall, said spokeswoman Merry Shelburne.

“For us this is really big,” said Pierce President Darroch “Rocky” Young. “We’re incredibly excited.”

Pierce has had a continuous enrollment decline in recent years along with a series of ongoing financial problems. Enrollment increases mean more money because the state pays colleges per full-time equivalent student, Young said.

Young, a popular Santa Monica College administrator known for fund-raising and management acumen, was named president last year to help revive the troubled campus.

He attributes the enrollment increase to, among other things, a high school outreach program, an aggressive television and radio marketing campaign--and newly installed air conditioning.

“We also compressed the calendar from 18 weeks to 15 weeks,” Young said.

Valley President Tyree Wieder believes shortening the calendar at her school also helped boost enrollment. “And we’ve also worked a lot with area high schools,” she said.