Fall Enrollment Dips at Valley Community Colleges : Education: Decline is blamed on the loss of potential students forced to move because of damage from the Jan. 17 quake.

In a continuing decline that officials blame on the lingering impact of the Northridge earthquake, initial enrollments are down again this fall at all three San Fernando Valley campuses in the Los Angeles Community College District.

Pierce College in Woodland Hills suffered the largest drop of the district’s nine campuses. Pierce’s day-to-day enrollment totals are running 6% to 7% below corresponding days a year ago, district officials said, despite the naming of a new acting president last spring whose goal was to increase enrollment.

Enrollments at Valley College in Van Nuys last week, the second of the semester, were running about 4% below last year’s levels. The numbers at Mission College in Sylmar were down 1% to 2%.

Total district enrollment as of Tuesday was down 1% to 101,461, its lowest level since 1985.

District Interim Chancellor Neil Yoneji blamed the 6.8 magnitude earthquake on Jan. 17 for the weak showings of the Valley colleges. Because the quake wrecked many Valley area homes and apartments, it forced potential students for the three colleges out of the area, Yoneji said.

Unlike the Los Angeles riots, which damaged mostly businesses, the earthquake caused extensive damage to residences in the Valley that may result in a dip in enrollments through this and the next school year, Yoneji said.

George Prather, a senior research analyst for the district, predicted that the final districtwide enrollment for the fall semester, calculated later this month, will remain slightly less than last year’s. Without the quake, he said, total enrollment would have risen slightly.

Nonetheless, district officials said they were heartened at the relatively small districtwide loss, especially coming on the heels of an 11% drop in the fall of 1993 and a nearly 2% decline in the fall of 1992 after state fee increases. This summer, the Legislature kept community college fees at $13 per unit.

As of Tuesday, Pierce’s enrollment was 15,077, its lowest fall level since 1969. The college, which once had the district’s largest enrollment, now ranks fourth after declines in the past two years.

Valley, now ranked first in enrollment, had 16,004 students last week. This fall’s decline, after drops in the past two years, has brought the college’s enrollment to its lowest level since 1966, district records show.

Mission, now ranked eighth of nine district colleges in enrollment, had 5,814 students last week, its lowest level since 1990. The college had been growing rather steadily until last fall, when it suffered an enormous 18% drop in enrollment.

Among enrollments at the district’s other campuses, East Los Angeles is up about 8%, West Los Angeles is up about 3% and City is up about 1%. Harbor is down about 1% and Southwest and Trade-Tech are down about 4%, according to district records.