Enrollment in Community Colleges Drops

Enrollment in California community colleges fell 9% this fall--the steepest drop in 15 years--because student fees more than doubled and state funding was inadequate, according to a report by the system’s administrators.

The state’s 107 community colleges lost an estimated 137,000 students from fall, 1992, to fall, 1993, the report said, the biggest decline since a 12.3% drop in 1978, when voter approval of tax-cutting Proposition 13 led to major budget reductions.

David Mertes, chancellor of the state’s community colleges system, said he had expected a substantial decline this fall, but was surprised by the size of the drop. And he warned that the financial outlook for community colleges for the coming 1994-95 fiscal year looks even worse than in the past several years.

Enrollments in California’s community colleges fell from 1.52 million last fall to an estimated 1.38 million this fall, the lowest fall enrollment total in five years, according to the report by Mertes’ staff. The report also estimated the number of classes offered by colleges has dropped 10% since 1990.

Community colleges in the San Fernando, Santa Clarita and Antelope valleys generally mirrored the state trend of enrollment reductions. An independent enrollment analysis by The Times showed that some of these schools suffered record registration drops.

In the nine-campus Los Angeles Community College District, which includes three San Fernando Valley colleges, enrollment for credit was down 11.4% this fall, the third largest decline in the past 23 years and the largest since 1984. Enrollment fell from 114,917 to 101,857, the lowest level since 1985.

Enrollment at Valley College in Van Nuys was down 11.8% to 16,638, and the numbers at Pierce College in Woodland Hills dropped 15.5% to 15,695. Both campuses had their largest fall-to-fall declines since the district began keeping statistics in 1964.

Pierce’s enrollment hit its lowest mark since 1969, records show.

At Mission College in Sylmar, enrollment dropped 17.9% to 6,097, the largest dip since the college was founded in 1975. At Glendale Community College, in its own district, officials said credit enrollment this fall dropped about 5% to 13,685. Records show that to be the college’s largest decrease since 1983.

At College of the Canyons in the Santa Clarita Community College District, officials reported a 1.9% drop in enrollment to 6,226 students, the largest decrease there since 1984. And at Antelope Valley College, also in its own district, enrollment fell 8.9% to 9,800 students, the largest fall-to-fall loss there since 1978.

The state report blamed two consecutive years of community college fee increases passed by the Legislature and Gov. Pete Wilson that have more than doubled per-unit fees for undergraduates. And, the report said state funding for community colleges in the past several years has failed to keep pace with enrollment demands and increasing costs.

The report, which was requested by the Legislature in fall, 1992, when the first fee hikes were passed, is due to be delivered to state lawmakers this week. It will arrive just before Wilson unveils his state budget proposal next month for the coming year, renewing the debate over state funding for colleges and whether to again increase student fees.

Mertes said he hopes to avoid any more fee hikes next year. But he said the community colleges system will be fortunate to hang on to its current budget allocation for the coming year, whereas its revenues actually increased slightly the past two years. “There’s going to have to be some very difficult choices made,” he said.

Cindy Katz, assistant secretary of the governor’s Child Development and Education Office, said elementary and high school education and law enforcement will be Wilson’s highest budget priorities, leaving the colleges a lesser priority.

“It’s still a bargain,” she said of the state’s community college fees, which remain among the lowest in the nation.

Most of the enrollment loss, about 7% or 106,200 of the nearly 137,000, came between the fall, 1992, semester and the spring, 1993, semester when the higher fees took effect, the report said. Another 2% or about 31,000 more students left the system between the spring, 1993, and fall, 1993, semesters, the report said.

Of the combined 137,000-student decline in enrollment by this fall, Mertes’ report estimated that the largest share, about 51%, were students who already had bachelor’s degrees. Starting this spring, fees for those students were increased from $6 per unit to $50 per unit, or $750 per semester for a 15-unit class load.

About 47% of the loss in enrollment was attributed to students without bachelor’s degrees. A full-time student who was paying $6 per unit prior to this spring is now paying $13 per unit. But because the state also removed the cost cap, the actual per-semester cost for a full-time student went from $60 before this spring to $195 this fall.

As a result, the community college system is enrolling about 140,000 fewer students than would otherwise enroll, the report said, citing waiting lists for classes in core subjects such as English and math. And total course section offerings statewide have fallen from about 140,000 in 1990 to about 126,000 this fall, a 10% reduction.

Chuck McIntyre, director of research for the California Community Colleges system, said increases in student fees historically have had the most direct effect on enrollment declines. He said this fall’s enrollment decline was greater than prior drop-offs over the years because the effect of the fee increases was greater than ever before.

According to the report, the higher fees led to disproportionate losses of minority students and those already enrolled, as opposed to new students. Had student fees not been increased, the report estimated that enrollments would have increased slightly from fall, 1992, to spring, 1993.

* UC FEE HIKE: University of California professional schools raise tuition. A3