Community colleges see influx of interested seniors

Recent caps on incoming freshmen and a spike in tuition costs across the University of California and California State University systems have left the state’s 112 community colleges to absorb greater numbers of students.

That includes Orange Coast College. At OCC last week, Senior Day drew more than 4,000 high school seniors — nearly double last year’s number, college officials said Friday.

The Costa Mesa campus was so packed that the nearby parking lot at the Orange County Fairgrounds was full, said OCC spokeswoman Mary Rhoda.

And that wasn’t the half of it, she said.

Forty-four buses dropped off thousands of students on campus, where many of them ate barbecue and got their first formal introduction to community college life.

Although OCC had to deal with a $1.8-million budget shortfall last year, it hasn’t gotten to where the college has had to turn away students, Rhoda said.

Yet there will be 50% fewer courses this summer, which means that students might not be able to get into their preferred classes because of the competition, Rhoda said.

As for the spring 2010 semester, 2.5% fewer classes were offered, Rhoda said, adding that the fall schedule has yet to be shaped because officials are still waiting on Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s revised budget in May.

Community colleges across California are dealing with an 8% drop in state funding, coupled with the fact that now the largest high school graduating class in California history could be knocking on their doors this fall, officials with California Community Colleges said.

This spring, 380,153 high school seniors are expected to graduate, according to California Community College spokeswoman Paige Marlatt-Dorr, who cited Department of Finance figures.

“Those who are being shut out are coming here,” she said. “There is a huge flood of people showing up on our campuses, and we simply can’t serve them all. We need additional resources.”

That help may be coming in the state’s revised budget, where Sacramento is expected to give back $126 million of the $190 million that was stripped from the community colleges last year, said Chris Yatooma, the system’s financial services.

He said nearly $5.8 million was cut from the Coast Community College District, which includes OCC, Golden West College in Huntington Beach and Coastline College in Fountain Valley.

But even if the colleges receive $120 million, “the reality is that in buying power it will only represent about $105 million,” Yatooma said.