Two-Year Colleges Catch On

More high school students are entering community colleges for their first two years, educators say, citing greater competition for freshman spots at four-year state campuses and the promise of transfers to those same universities.

Community colleges often have been where older students return to school on a part-time schedule or where people take a couple of classes to improve their job skills. Increasingly, 18- to 21-year-olds are making up a larger proportion of the student body, officials say.

At Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa, students younger than 21 are the fastest growing segment of the school. In 1991, they made up 31.9% of the student body. By last fall, that percentage jumped to 41.3%. The trend appears to have accelerated at the start of this school year.

“It seems like we’re just overwhelmed with young students,” said Hue Pham, dean of counseling and matriculation at Orange Coast.

At Fullerton College, said Ken Meehan, the director of research, the average age of students has dropped for the first time in five years as more college-prep students arrive. Traditionally, a third of the students were full-time, while the rest were part-time. As the new school year starts, Meehan said he expects those taking a full load has increased to nearly 40%. And the number of students who contacted counselors about transfer requirements for four-year schools increased 28% from 1997-98 to the last school year.

“We are getting a bigger group that looks more like traditional students,” Meehan said.

Officials at Saddleback College in Mission Viejo have seen a similar pattern. Although the total number of students registered so far this year is about the same as last, they have signed up for about 6,000 more hours a week of classes, up about 3% from last year. That’s a signal that more students are trying to meet transfer requirements.

“What that’s telling us that even though we’re flat in number of students, they’re taking more classes or classes that meet more hours a week,” Busche said.

Statewide, the percentage of younger students at community college campuses appears to have begun rising in the mid-1990s. According to the California Postsecondary Education Commission, the number of students ages 18 through 21 grew 19% from 1996 to 1999 at community colleges around the state.

Some of it is a result of what is called Tidal Wave II--the children of baby boomers crowding into colleges. Glenn Roquemore, vice president of instruction at Irvine Valley College, said this year’s enrollment is expected to rise about 4% to 6%, most of them new high school graduates.

Crowding at University of California and Cal State University campuses has meant that many of those students are not being accepted into the campuses of their choice. Instead of enrolling at their second, third or fourth choice campus, many are deciding to meet their lower division requirements at a community college, boost their grades and be better positioned for a transfer to their preferred university campus, while paying minimal tuition.

“It’s common knowledge the UC’s are becoming more selective in the students they’re able to provide admission for,” said Stephanie Schneider, director of evaluation for UC Irvine’s Center for Educational Partnerships. “Students have to make alternative choices as to where they’re going to start their college educations.”

Schneider’s daughter, Claire Broderick, now a sophomore at UCLA, said several of her University High School friends want to pad their grades at a community college for two years, hoping they would be accepted at a top school.

Cal State and UC campuses no longer are putting as many resources into remedial math and English classes, and are accepting fewer students in need of help in particular subjects.

“They’re referring many students back to community colleges,” Busche said.

The four-year institutions also are making it more attractive for students who start at the two-year schools.

In May 2000, the CSU and the state Community Colleges signed an agreement to make it easier for students to transfer, and to make efforts to increase by 5% annually the number of students eligible for those transfers.

UC’s plan calls for an annual increase of 6% in the number of community college transfers, partially to keep the UC student body at 60% upperclassmen, UC spokesman Brad Hayward said.

Since November 1997, UC Irvine has met regularly with the nine community colleges in the county as part of the Orange County Transfer Consortium, with a goal of increasing transfers by 33% by 2005.

The community college route also has been a way for the universities to increase the number of lower scoring minority students since affirmative action policies were abolished.

“We’re looking at trying to create a school of students interested in going to the university that reflect the demographics of Los Angeles and Orange counties,” Schneider said.

When the UC system debuts its dual admissions policy in 2003, high school students would be admitted with the proviso that they spend their first two years at a community college. Some campuses already are informally implementing the concept, said Judith James, vice chancellor of student services and special programs for the state Community College Chancellor’s office.

Community colleges are discussing a similar program with the CSU system, CSU spokeswoman Colleen Bentley-Adler said.

Irvine Valley’s Roquemore said some universities are telling students they turn down that they could have a chance for admission if they attend a community college.

“It’s great for us,” he said.