ON CAMPUS AT OCC:OCC tuition to drop nearly 25% next year

Orange Coast College will implement an almost 25 percent tuition-fee reduction for its 2007 winter intersession and its spring semester classes.

All 109 California community colleges will reduce enrollment fees from $26 per unit to $20 per unit following the recent signing of legislation by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. The legislation received bipartisan support.

The enrollment-fee reduction becomes effective Jan. 1, 2007.

OCC’s four-week winter intersession begins on Tues., Jan. 2. Spring semester classes get under way Mon., Jan. 29. Registration for both sessions begins next Monday, and online applications may be filed at www.orangecoastcollege.edu. The winter and spring schedules have been mailed to local residents and are available on campus and online.

Since 2003, student-enrollment fees at California community colleges have escalated from $11 to $26 per unit. There has been a corresponding sharp decline in attendance statewide.

“Several years of rising costs have created a barrier for some of our prospective students,” said California Community Colleges Chancellor Mark Drummond. “If California is to remain an economic leader, we must ensure that we are adequately preparing our future workforce to meet the challenges and demands of tomorrow. We believe that creating greater access to higher education is an investment in California’s future.”

California’s community college system consists of 72 districts and 109 campuses. The system provided educational, vocational and transfer programs to more than 2.5 million students in 2005-06. It is the largest system of higher education in the world.

OCC FIRST IN CAL STATE UNIVERSITY TRANSFERSFor the second year in a row, Orange Coast College ranks first out of California’s 109 community colleges in the number of students it sends to the 23-campus California State University system.

OCC transferred 1,313 students to the system in 2005-06, to rank at the top of the heap of the state’s community college transfer leaders to CSU.

Orange Coast ranked third in 2005-06 in the total number of students it transferred to the University of California and the California State University systems combined, with 1,815 transfers.

OCC was fifth in transfers to the 10-campus University of California System, with 502.

The California Post-Secondary Education Commission (CPEC) released the 2005-06 transfer figures last month.

De Anza College of Cupertino ranked second in the state, with 1,280 transfers to the CSU system. Santa Monica College was third; Fullerton College, fourth; and Mt. San Antonio College, fifth.

Santa Monica was first in transfers to the University of California system, with 903. De Anza College was second (656); Santa Barbara City College, third (581); Diablo Valley College of Pleasant Hill, fourth (577); and OCC, fifth (502). Orange Coast moved up one notch in the standings this year and increased its transfers to the University of California by 1.8 percent.

OCC is the No. 1 transfer institution to UC Irvine.

In combined transfers to the UC and Cal State University systems, Orange Coast finished third in the state in 2005-06. Santa Monica heads the list of combined transfers to the two systems, with 2,169; De Anza College is second, with 1,936. OCC is third (1,815), Diablo Valley College, fourth (1,719); and Pasadena City College, fifth (1,640).

PRINTED SPRING SCHEDULE AVAILABLEThe printed version of OCC’s 2007 spring class schedule is available to the public in the college’s Enrollment Center.

The schedule is also posted on OCC’s Internet webpage (www.orangecoastcollege.edu). Persons arriving at the website should click on “Class Schedule” on the first page of the site, then click on “Spring 2007” on the second page.

Nearly 2,500 different classes will be offered by the college this spring, making it the largest spring semester the college has mounted in many years. The semester begins on Monday, Jan. 29, and concludes on May 27.

Spring class schedules have been mailed to all residents of the Coast Community College District. OCC’s Enrollment Center, located on the first floor of Watson Hall, is open Monday through Thursday, from 9 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., and Friday, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

For registration information, phone (714) 432-5072.

EXTENDED ED PROGRAM OFFERS FREE ESL COURSEOCC’s Extended Education Program will offer a noncredit, six-week “English as a Second Language” course in January and February.

The course is free to those who qualify. Application deadline is Friday, Dec. 1.

The ESL class meets Tuesday evenings, Jan. 2, 9, 16, 23, 30 and Feb. 6, from 6 to 9 p.m. The 18-hour course is designed for nonspeakers of English who are 18 years of age or older and who have never previously attended college.

For information about the class, phone (714) 432-5154.

REPERTORY COMPANY STAGES HOLIDAY SHOWOrange Coast College’s Repertory Theatre Company will stage its annual holiday production for kids and their families for two weekends in December.

Titled “An Old-Fashioned Christmas Melodrama and Ice Cream Social,” the holiday treat runs Fridays through Sundays, Dec. 8-10 and 15-17, in the Drama Lab Theatre. Curtain is set for 7 p.m. Friday through Sunday nights, with 2:30 p.m. matinees both Sundays.

The show will feature an evening of music, vaudeville acts, a holiday sing-along, and the college’s traditional holiday melodrama. The production is geared for the entire family.

Tickets may be purchased by phone or online, using Visa, Discover or MasterCard. The online address is www.occtickets.com. For information, phone (714) 432-5880.