A College With a Sense of Mission : Education: The institution grew even when it operated out of storefronts, churches and high schools. As of today, it has a home.

Time has proved the naysayers wrong about Mission College.

State education officials predicted in 1975, when the two-year school was established as the 100th community college in California, that the college would never attract more than 5,000 students.

But operating without a permanent campus, out of rented storefronts, churches and high school campuses, Mission’s enrollment grew steadily year after year. And as the college opens its sparkling, new $25-million campus in Sylmar today, college officials predict this year’s enrollment could hit 10,000 students--3,000 more than last year.

The dramatic increase demonstrates an almost unquenchable thirst for learning among residents of the mainly working-class northeastern San Fernando Valley communities served by the college, Mission administrators say. Also, students are taking more classes than anticipated, and the college is attracting many young adults who want to save money during their initial college years before transferring to more expensive four-year institutions, said Carlos Nava, Mission’s dean of students.

Now, college officials say they fear Mission already has outgrown its new campus, and they are making expansion plans that carry a price tag of $63.7 million.

Applications for admission are 43% ahead of last year. More than 80 of the college’s 523 scheduled classes are filled, although officials will continue processing students through Sept. 20.

“This is the first time in Mission’s history we’ve had to close so many classes so early,” President Jack Fujimoto said.

The new campus on 22 acres next to El Cariso Regional Park at Eldridge Avenue and Hubbard Street makes its debut after years of frustrating setbacks and delays, including several battles with the governor and Legislature over funds to build the campus. State officials consistently underestimated Mission’s potential, college administrators said.

In 1986, then-Gov. George Deukmejian vetoed $8.7 million included in the state budget for the Mission campus, saying that the Los Angeles Community College District might have to dispose of the college. Northeastern Valley students could attend Pierce or Valley, he said.

Deukmejian’s actions sparked a protest that attracted 200 angry residents. District administrators stood their ground, holding to the premise that the northeastern area was under-served. “Without a campus, state officials thought we’d get 3,500 students,” said Charles Dirks, president of the college’s Academic Senate and faculty chairman of the campus development committee. Last year’s enrollment was twice that, he noted.

“We finally showed them we were right,” said Nava, who has worked at Mission since its founding.

Nava and other administrators said the fast-growing population in communities surrounding the campus, a larger number of adults going back to college than expected and a cap on enrollment at Cal State Northridge and other universities were factors in the state’s miscalculation.

In addition, Nava said, many CSUN students also are enrolled at Mission in general education courses unavailable to them at four-year schools because of state budget cuts.

Potential students from the northeast Valley lacked transportation to Valley or Pierce and would not have gone to college had Mission not been founded, Nava said.

As a result of the state’s reluctance to support Mission, the campus’ three buildings--an instructional and administrative center, a campus center and a campus services building--were planned to accommodate a student body of about 3,000.

But campus officials have set up classrooms to hold the maximum number of students, making use of every available space. Science laboratories double as lecture halls, and class hours are staggered to handle more students.

“We could accommodate 10,000 students, but we would be filled to the brim,” Fujimoto said.

The campus has two multilevel buildings and one single-story structure, all with white walls and red-tile roofs in the California mission style.

The buildings feature many skylights, exposed-beam ceilings and courtyards.

College officials and former students say it is the campus itself that has attracted more students.

“We didn’t have a campus, so Mission wasn’t looked upon very favorably” by local high school students, said Vilma Lopez, a former student body president who helped recruit new students to Mission. “I had a difficult time selling Mission to students.”

Nava said the faculty and staff kept many students coming back. “In spite of the dreadful conditions we’ve had to cope with at times, the staff has managed to generate enthusiasm,” he said. “I think the community has been very patient with us.”

Once, he said, a rented classroom was next to a bar in San Fernando and “once in awhile some little old drunk guy who’d opened the wrong door would come staggering in.”

Dirks said enrollment will skyrocket with a permanent campus. “People will begin to identify with Mission now.”

Fujimoto said Mission will attract more younger students because of a change in emphasis from nighttime to daytime classes. “It’s a whole transformation in focus,” he said.

Night classes for working adults who want to earn degrees will still be scheduled, Fujimoto added.

“First and foremost, we want to serve the community,” he said.

Toward that end, the college has sponsored community forums on crime and drugs, and plans others on traffic and transportation. As a result, campus recruiters are focusing on high school students, including gang members who might not continue in school.

Mission also plans to make the campus center available to community groups for large social functions. “Almost anything can be held here, except we won’t allow alcohol,” Fujimoto said.

Because the college holds night classes at Granada Hills High School, Mission “already has a presence in Northridge and Granada Hills,” Fujimoto said.

Recruiters visit San Fernando and Sylmar high schools once a month. “Now we need to look at Pacoima,” Fujimoto said.

A recently completed master plan calls for Mission to expand its programs each year so that by 1995, the college will offer a bigger variety of courses, and services such as counseling and job placement.

The plan anticipates expanded course offerings in vocational and industrial education as well as fine arts. It provides for the addition of intercollegiate sports, including softball, soccer, baseball and cross-country running teams.

To accomplish its goals, Mission needs $63.7 million to pay for more classrooms, a library, cafeteria and other facilities, officials say.

None of the millions of dollars needed for expansion were included in this year’s state budget. And with large cuts in education spending initiated by Gov. Pete Wilson, Mission officials said it may be years before the college receives money for the proposed improvements.

But Fujimoto said he plans to activate a community foundation to raise funds for the college. And he and other administrators are optimistic that the dramatic increase in enrollment will demonstrate the need for the funds.

“Unless we are allowed to expand,” they concluded in the master plan, “potential students will be denied entry to the college and the objectives we have established will be seriously undermined.”

Several students standing in line to register at Mission one afternoon last week seconded that conclusion. Jose Cruz, 19, a recent graduate of Sylmar High’s continuation school, said he would not be enrolling in college were it not for Mission.

“I want to study computers,” he said.

Maria Flores, 17, a San Fernando High School graduate, was enrolling in classes with her mother, Maria E. Flores. Both want to learn word processing and said they would not be able to do so if Mission were not nearby.

Fujimoto also hopes to attract more students planning to transfer to four-year colleges and universities. The new campus and expanded course offerings will accomplish that, he said.

In addition to being the fastest-growing area in Los Angeles, Sylmar has the greatest need for post-secondary education, according to the master plan.

Of the Los Angeles Unified School District’s 49 high schools, Sylmar High, which used to be the farthest geographically from a permanent college campus, has the fewest seniors entering college, Mission administrators said. Nearby San Fernando High ranks 46th.

“We want to see these young people enrolled in our college,” Fujimoto said.