Colleges Enrollment

With the new school year in full swing, Saddleback College is experiencing a surge in enrollment, with more than 850 additional students this year over last. On Sept. 3, after two weeks of school, Saddleback reported to the state that 21,899 students were registered, a 4% increase from a year ago, college officials said. "This is our first major gain in four years," said Susan Lemkin, Saddleback public information officer.

Enrollment in California's community colleges has plunged to a 20-year low as budget-strapped campuses have had to slash classes and instructors, according to a report released Monday. Course offerings are at a 15-year low, dropping 21% from 2007-08 to 2011-12, with music and dance, education and business programs particularly hard hit. The report, published by the Public Policy Institute of California, charts a system staggering under the weight of unprecedented funding cuts: $1.5 billion from 2007-08 to 2011-12, considerably larger than those during past economic downturns.

The number of black males enrolled in U.S. colleges declined over the last decade even as minority enrollment in general was rising by 8%, a study said. Black males also earned the fewest degrees and made the least progress in number of faculty positions held, the American Council on Education said in its seventh annual report on Minorities in Higher Education. The council, reviewing Department of Education statistics, found that black males represented 4.

Krystle Bernal spent three years studying fashion design, and she's got $80,000 in loans to prove it. But you'd never know it by what she does. She's a part-time bank teller. "I wanted to be a fashion buyer," she said. "They told me I could earn $65,000 a year. " After finishing a three-year program at Westwood College, a for-profit university in Denver, Bernal was rejected for job after job by hiring managers who told her she wasn't qualified. Westwood wouldn't comment about Bernal, who is a lead plaintiff in a suit against the school, but said in a prepared statement: "We are proud of the hard work by our 40,000 students and graduates, many of whom are working at businesses throughout the U.S. " Roughly 1.8 million ?

More than 15,000 students signed up for classes at Cypress College this spring, making for one of the largest enrollments in the past decade. Officials attribute the increase to the economic recession. "I think the economy is a large part of it," said Dean of Admissions and Records Alexander McLeod, noting that some students would rather enroll in college than look for work in today's competitive job market.

Enrollment at Rancho Santiago College is 23,681 this fall, a 9% increase from last year. The number of students enrolled in continuing education courses, which are not for college credit, has risen to 15,232, an 11% increase from last year. The courses offered by the continuing education division include English as a Second Language, high school credit courses and citizenship classes. College officials say a comprehensive marketing plan is responsible for the increases.

Pointing to an increasingly diverse population that will need college training to fill future jobs, educators recently proposed a national mandate that minority college enrollment reflect each state's racial makeup, and that graduation rates be vastly improved.

Nearly half a million more students than are now enrolled will flood California's public colleges and universities in 10 years, and many could be shut out unless civic leaders begin preparing now, warns a report released Thursday.

Mirroring nationwide trends, California's two largest public higher education systems experienced only slight enrollment declines this fall, a strong reversal to the sharp drops of last year. Enrollments in California's community colleges fell 1.4% to about 1.36 million students, compared to a 9% loss in 1993, a spokesman said. California State University enrollments declined 1.9% to 319,394 students this fall, from a 6.3% drop the year before.

Orange Coast College began spring semester classes this week with an enrollment increase of 2.3% over spring a year ago, the college announced Wednesday. A total of 19,780 students were enrolled Monday on Orange Coast's first day of spring semester classes. A year ago, 19,336 students were enrolled on opening day of the spring semester. Spring registration continues at the college through Jan. 27.

David Maley left his internship at Lehman Brothers last summer figuring he would be back on Wall Street in a glamorous investment banking job once he graduated from Colgate University in May. Now Lehman is history, and Maley is moving instead to a Cleveland suburb to start a management training program at an industrial supply company. Considering the job market, he's just fine with that. "I'm happy to have a job, counting my blessings," said Maley, a mathematical economics major from Woodbridge, Conn.

Recent high school graduates and mid-career adults are flocking to community colleges this fall as California campuses report enrollment jumps tied to the weak economy. Administrators say that when the economy dips, enrollment at community colleges typically surges. This fall, students are banking on these modest workhorses of California's higher education system to ease their way through the economic downturn, opting for the closer, cheaper alternatives to state universities. Older students, in particular, are seeking training at two-year colleges to escape declining industries.

IT was a bold, utopian vision, a plan for higher education that offered hope, opportunity and -- most significant -- a place in college to all within the Golden State. It was also a treaty, negotiated in tough, months-long talks aimed at quelling an intensifying war between the University of California and the emerging state colleges. At the same time, with a tidal wave of students poised to hit the state's campuses, it was a desperate attempt by schools to fend off growing legislative control.

Looking at books stacked at the Ventura College bookstore, first-year student Janet Gross stood transfixed. It was only the first day of school, and already the 47-year-old student felt overwhelmed. After working nearly 30 years as a medical offices manager, she has returned to school to fulfill her dream of becoming a nurse. "It's exciting," Gross said. "But I'm a little scared. This is a whole new world for me."

Black freshman enrollment at the University of Florida is expected to be down by nearly half this year under Gov. Jeb Bush's ban on racial preference in public university admissions. Blacks represented nearly 12% of the freshman class last year, but the class starting this month will be only 6% to 7% black, said officials at the state university. "This is disappointing," Provost David Colburn said. "We were a segregated institution for a long time.

Because the deal was too good to pass up, junior Rose Herrera ended up at Cal State Fullerton's summer school this year--along with about 9,000 other students. Under a $20-million grant, the state for the first time is making it possible for 18 of the 23 Cal State campuses to offer summer school courses at rates similar to those charged during the regular academic year.

Mills College President Mary Metz has resigned, seven weeks after her hesitant support for a now-abandoned proposal to admit men to the women's school sparked passionate criticism from students. Metz said in a written statement that she was leaving because she could not commit herself to stay at Mills during a demanding five-year plan to boost enrollment by nearly one-third and raise $10 million to keep the college from having to go co-ed.

Spring enrollment at Cal State Fullerton has increased about 7% this year, with as many as 25,200 students expected to attend classes when the new semester begins today. Last year's spring enrollment peaked at 23,539, campus officials said. The coming semester brings a variety of new courses, ranging from strategic Internet marketing to women in law. An emphasis in foreign language may also be enacted this spring.