Orange County Junior Colleges

Your California College Guide (May 19), while informative, did a disservice to The Times’ hundreds of thousands of Orange County readers. It had a definite Los Angeles County bias to it, particularly in the section devoted to community colleges.

In the body of an article (“Transfer Rate a Test of Success”), as well as on the cover, you mentioned four Los Angeles County community colleges and a Ventura County college. You excluded, entirely, Orange County’s eight outstanding two-year institutions.

You laud, and rightfully so, Santa Monica College for leading the state last fall in sending students to the University of California system.

Had you been interested in looking south, however, you might have noticed that Orange Coast College in Orange County surpassed even Santa Monica in the total number of students it sent to UC and Cal State campuses, and regionally accredited independent colleges and universities.

According to the most recent California Postsecondary Education Commission report, published in February, Orange Coast transferred a total of 1,785 students to four-year colleges and universities in 1988-89. (Figures for 1989-90 are, as yet, incomplete, including only fall data.) OCC ranked first in Southern California and second in the state on that list.

Santa Monica was third in Southern California and seventh in the state, having transferred 1,469. Orange Coast nearly doubled Santa Monica’s transfer figure to CSU campuses. Orange County’s Fullerton College ranked sixth in Southern California in UC/CSU/independent college transfers and 10th in the state, with 1,288.

I applaud The Times for publishing such an informative supplement on higher education. The next time you do so, however, I encourage you not to overlook Orange County’s fine two-year institutions.

JIM CARNETT

Director of Community Relations

Orange Coast College

Costa Mesa