Spring figures down at OCC

Fewer students have signed up for classes this spring at Orange Coast College. But, given the economic climate, the number of students who actually signed up at the Costa Mesa community college — 21,000-plus — came as a pleasant surprise, school officials said Friday.

Exactly 21,373 students will be taking classes at the college. That’s 800 fewer than last year but still 2,000 more than spring 2008, according to admission records with the college.

Of this year’s total student body, 90% signed up for class online, and it was the first time in OCC’s history that no paper class schedules were handed out on campus.

The semester, which officially started Jan. 30 but really got rolling Monday, also features a new president, Dennis Harkins, who’s been eagerly awaiting his faculty since Jan. 1.

“My first impressions of a great college are constantly being reshaped as I learn more about special people and programs unique to the college,” Harkins said in a news release. “At this point, there appears to be no limits to the great programs and people at OCC.”

Harkins is OCC’s 10th permanent president. He recently served as government relations director at Georgia Perimeter College in metropolitan Atlanta, and he was provost of the Clarkston campus for 10 years.

Georgia Perimeter College is the third largest college in Georgia, with 24,500 students. The Clarkston campus, with an enrollment of 7,000, has a diverse and international student population with programs for transfer and professional studies.

Although enrollment at OCC might have dipped, it rose significantly at the physical and athletics department, Dean Barbara Bond said.

“We have more students than ever,” said Bond, who noted that 3,000 students alone registered for two of the more popular classes — cardio fitness and strength and conditioning — both held inside the nearly 2-year-old Fitness Complex.

There are more than 65 classes to choose from, and, Bond said, 90 students are on the men’s and women’s track team alone, the largest number ever.

“This is going to be a great spring semester,” she said.