Enrollment up at OCC

Marisa O’Neil

More class sections hit campus this semester for the first time in a

while, and if the first day is any indication, more students are

following. After budget cuts led to fewer classes, hence fewer

students the past few semesters, the school added 220 class sections

to the schedule for spring.

Monday, the first day of class, saw 21,659 students enrolled -- a

4.69% increase over the fall.

“If we’re able to offer more classes, we’re going to have more

students,” said Nancy Kidder, executive dean of admissions and

records. “It’s not necessarily a case of ‘If you offer it, they will

come.’ It depends on demand. But we’ve seen demand consistently

extremely high.”

OCC has cut 1,500 course sections in recent years, meaning many

students couldn’t get classes they needed. Kidder estimated that OCC

turned away 4,000 students in the fall because they didn’t have

enough sections available.

Because OCC’s preliminary budget wasn’t as bad as anticipated,

Kidder said, the school was able to offer the additional courses for

spring.

“It was hard for me last semester,” sophomore Mona Mikati said. “I

had to wait in line for [classes] and got some but didn’t get others.

Now I’m getting more. A lot of people are happy because they were

afraid they wouldn’t get the classes they need.”

The admissions office also saw a 12% increase in applications for

the spring, and students are taking more classes, with a 12.76%

increase in total hours taken.

“Our population is getting younger,” college spokesman Jim Carnett

said. “We’re getting more traditional college students who are

transfer-oriented or career-oriented, more full-time students. Our

student age is dropping, and we see more 18-, 19- and 20-year-olds

who are taking more units.”

Fall semester was the first for increased registration fees, which

went from $15 to $18 a unit. Under Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s

proposed budget, they would jump to $26 per unit.

University of California officials last week reported a 4.1% drop

in freshman applications for fall 2004, and the budget calls for a

10% cut in freshman enrollment. Kidder said she didn’t know if

community colleges would be able to pick up the slack and wouldn’t

know until the state budget was finalized how many classes would be

offered in the fall.

“The number of courses we can offer are not based on demand,” she

said. “We’re a public institution, so we can only offer what we can

pay for.”

More classes will be available this summer than last, Kidder said,

though they will still not be up to full speed. Students who want to

attend summer or fall courses should apply soon after the April 1

enrollment period begins.

“The early bird gets the worm,” she said.