OCC begins 60th year with more than 25,000 students

Orange Coast College kicked off its 60th academic year Monday, welcoming in its latest class of enrollees to add to the 1.5 million that enrolled before them.

From a collection of wooden barracks on a deactivated World War II military installation hosting 515 first-semester students and 33 teachers, OCC has grown to a student population exceeding 25,000.

OCC became a viable entity in January of 1947, and offered its first classes in September the following year.

Today, OCC is the leading transfer college to UC Irvine and Cal State Long Beach, second in transfers to Cal State Fullerton, and third in transfers to UCLA.

The college’s anniversary will be celebrated through September of next year, culminating in a birthday party on campus and anniversary gala later in the month.

Registration is still underway for mid-semester classes.

— Joseph Serna