Cal State Northridge, once called San Fernando Valley State College, is still essentially a Valley institution.

As a Valley resident, I get my teeth looked at by a dentist who is a CSUN graduate. I had a broken arm set last year by a Kaiser-Permanente surgeon who is a CSUN graduate. And I am capably represented in Sacramento by a legislator who is a CSUN graduate.

Recent criticisms of CSUN, unfortunately, suggest the school is today more of a regional disaster than a regional asset.

Low graduation rates, canceled classes, poor advisement--these have gotten plenty of attention during the last few months, including the front page of the New York Times on Sept. 1, and it is usually coupled with assertions that CSUN and schools like it are not at all doing what colleges are supposed to do.

Factually accurate though these criticisms may be, their perspective is seriously flawed, since they fail to take into account how a "people's university" like CSUN actually works as an effective force in the region it serves.

Each year, CSUN awards baccalaureate degrees to several thousand such men and women, many of whom transfer to CSUN from our area's excellent community colleges: Pasadena, Glendale, Pierce, Mission, Valley, Moorpark, College of the Canyons, Lancaster and Ventura. Most of them continue to live and work in this area, a major force in creating our growth and prosperity over the years.

Much of CSUN's effectiveness stems from the fact that it does not match our picture of what a college should be, as presented in movies like "Pigskin Parade," "Bedtime for Bonzo" and "Animal House."

In the movies, the typical student is a young, relatively affluent full-time student with a robust schedule of extracurricular activities supervised by avuncular deans and tweedy professors in ivy-covered halls flanked by dormitories.

As longtime Valley residents know, CSUN students have always been older, commuting students (the current average age is 26). They have always worked at outside jobs (28.5 outside hours per week is the current average). And they have always taken much longer than the conventional four years to earn their degrees.

Here are the two key principals involved in CSUN's continuing effectiveness.

* Degree completion is more important than academic speed.