Community College Enrollment Up

Enrollment at local community colleges is up slightly this fall, according to preliminary figures, despite deep budget cuts at many schools and a healthy job market--two factors that have historically kept students away.

The trend came as a pleasant surprise to school officials.

“In my 20 years in this racket, when the economy is up, enrollment goes down, and when the economy is down, enrollment goes up,” said Gary Parker, dean of admissions and records at Glendale Community College, where classes began Monday. “That’s not happening this year.”

The Glendale school had a first-day enrollment figure of 12,241, up more than 300 students over last year.

Classes also began Monday at the nine campuses of the Los Angeles Community College District, where enrollment was 102% of what it was at this time last year, even though all but one of the colleges in the district have been forced to cut programs.

“The colleges and the district have been making a concerted effort to increase enrollments, and it looks like those efforts are paying off,” said district spokesman Blair Sillers.

Indeed, officials at several campuses attributed the relatively healthy numbers to increased recruitment efforts--newspaper, radio and direct-mail campaigns that had been revived after cutbacks during the state’s recession in the early 1990s.

Still, when budgets cuts at the Los Angeles district campuses began to look likely earlier this summer, many school officials predicted that enrollments would plummet.

“When word of these cuts came, we were shocked, and were trying to keep a positive outlook,” said Shelley Gerstl, associate dean of admissions and records at Pierce College in Woodland Hills.

In addition to the program cuts, the enrollment figures were unexpected because a healthy economy tends to lure students out of the classrooms and into the work force.

But campus employees and students alike found long lines and packed classes Monday.

“We’re just as crowded as last year,” said a harried Myriam Mekelburg, an admissions assistant at Valley College in Van Nuys. Nearly 300 more students had enrolled as of Monday at the campus, which must make $1.4 million in cuts.

Pierce College, which has eliminated 130 classes so far in an effort to trim more than $3 million from its $23-million budget, reported a 1.4% increase in enrollment as of Friday, with 13,709 students having signed up. That’s the largest leap in six years, Gerstl said. Another 500 to 1,000 students are expected to enroll in the next couple of weeks.

In an effort to lure students, Pierce has opened satellite campuses in Woodland Hills, Agoura Hills and Chatsworth, and now offers a greater number of intensive, short-term classes at varying hours so working students can attend.

Even at Mission College, the campus hardest hit by budget cuts, preliminary enrollment numbers show a drop of just 3% compared with last fall. By Friday, 5,436 students had signed up, while at the same time last year, 5,559 students had enrolled.

And by the time the college takes a final head count at the end of next week, President William Norlund said he expects just as many students this fall as last.

The small college, which suffered under a district funding formula that effectively punished colleges for growing too quickly, is trimming nearly a quarter of its $9-million budget. So far, officials have cut 200 courses, shortened library hours and scaled back a popular citizenship program.

The district funding formula was recently revised to keep funding more in line with enrollment.

Slater is a Times staff writer and Oliande is a special correspondent.