Enrollment

Facing uncertain budget prospects, California State University officials announced plans to freeze enrollment next spring at most campuses and to wait-list all applicants the following fall pending the outcome of a proposed tax initiative on the November ballot. The university is moving to reduce enrollment to deal with $750 million in funding cuts already made in the 2011-12 fiscal year and position itself for at least an additional $200-million cut next year if the tax proposal fails.

Galaxy goalkeeper Josh Saunders, who left the team a month ago to enroll in Major League Soccer's substance abuse and behavioral health program, was back on the training field Tuesday. But it's unclear how long it will be before he can play again. Saunders, who held the Houston Dynamo scoreless in last November's MLS Cup final, said he was not being treated for drug or alcohol abuse, attributing his absence to personal issues. "I was under some stress," said Saunders, 31, who started this season as a starting keeper for the first time in his eight-year MLS career.

Facing a state funding cut of up to 10%, California's community colleges will enroll 400,000 fewer students next fall and slash thousands of classes to contend with budget shortfalls that threaten to reshape their mission, officials said Wednesday. The dire prognosis was in response to the breakdown in budget talks in Sacramento and the likelihood that the state's 112 community colleges will be asked to absorb an $800-million funding reduction for the coming school year — double the amount suggested in Gov. Jerry Brown's current budget proposal.

Re "Fewer in state enter CSU, UC campuses," May 10 When I started teaching high school in California 30 years ago, I thought my students had it pretty good. Now I feel sorry for students. They're pushed and tested, spending days of the high school year taking so many exams, most of which have no significance for them personally. They're cajoled and threatened that they must go to college, even if it means taking on big debt. And now we're refusing to accommodate our own California residents, increasingly favoring out-of-state students because they pay more.

In the cafeteria of Los Angeles Southwest College, Sandra Narro, a 16-year-old South Gate High School student, is taking a junk-food break between classes with her friends, also high school students. A little too giggly, they don't quite blend in with the older college students around them. But that does not seem to bother anyone. In fact, Southwest College students appeared to welcome the presence of the high school youngsters on their campus--and for good reason.

Hollywood High School keeps its doors open 12 months a year to ease overcrowding. The year-round schedule allows the campus to run hundreds more students through its cramped classrooms. It also chips away at their education. Teachers skip pages of material, assign less homework and give fewer tests because their school year has been slashed by 17 days. Hundreds of pupils take the Stanford 9 exam shortly after returning from an eight-week vacation.

The number of eligible California high school graduates entering the state's public four-year universities has plunged in the last five years, as budget-strapped institutions increasingly adopt practices to reduce enrollment, a new study has found. At University of California and California State University campuses, enrollment rates dropped by one-fifth, to fewer than 18% of all state high school graduates in 2010, from about 22% in 2007. The report, released Wednesday by the Public Policy Institute of California, found that these declines have occurred even as demand has risen: The number of high school graduates in California reached an all-time high of 405,000 in 2010; the number of seniors who completed college admission requirements increased dramatically, as did the number of students taking and passing Advanced Placement exams.

Re "Fewer in state enter CSU, UC campuses," May 10 When I started teaching high school in California 30 years ago, I thought my students had it pretty good. Now I feel sorry for students. They're pushed and tested, spending days of the high school year taking so many exams, most of which have no significance for them personally. They're cajoled and threatened that they must go to college, even if it means taking on big debt. And now we're refusing to accommodate our own California residents, increasingly favoring out-of-state students because they pay more.

For those concerned about the shortage of doctors in the U.S. healthcare system, here is a bit of good news: The number of students enrolling in medical schools has reached its highest level in a decade. More than 19,200 people entered their first year of medical school in 2011, a 3% increase over 2010, according to new data from the nonprofit Assn. of American Medical Colleges. The number of enrollees has been growing steadily since 2001, when medical schools reported 16,365 students entering their first year of medical school.

Reversing a five-year growth trend, enrollment at California's community colleges dipped 1%, or about 21,000 students, this school year as campuses pared courses because of state budget cuts, Chancellor Jack Scott said Wednesday. The downward trend is likely to continue next year unless state funding increases, Scott said in a telephone news briefing that projected a challenging future for the nation's largest system of public higher education. California's 112 community colleges educate about 2.9 million students annually.

The number of eligible California high school graduates entering the state's public four-year universities has plunged in the last five years, as budget-strapped institutions increasingly adopt practices to reduce enrollment, a new study has found. At University of California and California State University campuses, enrollment rates dropped by one-fifth, to fewer than 18% of all state high school graduates in 2010, from about 22% in 2007. The report, released Wednesday by the Public Policy Institute of California, found that these declines have occurred even as demand has risen: The number of high school graduates in California reached an all-time high of 405,000 in 2010; the number of seniors who completed college admission requirements increased dramatically, as did the number of students taking and passing Advanced Placement exams.

Goalkeeper Josh Saunders will be lost to the Galaxy for an indefinite period after being enrolled in Major League Soccer's substance abuse and behavioral health program. The Galaxy was informed Friday that Saunders would be unavailable to play until he completes a treatment protocol. Team officials insisted Tuesday that Saunders did not fail a league-administered drug test but have been evasive in explaining his absence. Saunders missed Saturday's tie with FC Dallas and is unavailable for Wednesday night's match in Seattle, with Galaxy Coach Bruce Arena saying only that the keeper was missing for "personal reasons.

Health insurance giant WellPoint Inc. reported an 8% drop in first-quarter profit, hurt by lower enrollment and rising costs. The nation's second-largest health insurer — after UnitedHealth Group Inc. — runs Anthem Blue Cross in California and plans in 13 other states. It reported net income of $856.5 million, or $2.53 a share, for the three months ended March 31, compared with net income of $926.6 million, or $2.44 a share, a year ago. Revenue grew 4% to $15.42 billion in the quarter.

For the last decade, USC has enrolled the largest number of international students of any college in the country: 8,615 last year. The Los Angeles university worked hard to achieve that - recruiting students from China, India and South Korea, among 100 countries in all, and providing services for the foreign students once they get here. Now campus officials are faced with the slayings this week of two graduate engineering students from China in a shooting about a mile off campus.

USC landed one of the class of 2013's top quarterback prospects when Max Browne announced last week that he would join the Trojans. The junior from Sammamish, Wash., is working toward finishing high school in December so he can enroll at USC in January, in time to participate in spring practice a year from now and compete for an opportunity to become Matt Barkley's successor. Browne's plan is a familiar one for the Trojans: Barkley and redshirt freshman quarterbacks Max Wittek and Cody Kessler — who will play Saturday in USC's annual end-of-spring scrimmage — all left high school halfway through their senior years to jump-start their college careers.

Sporting goods stores might want to stock up on sleeping bags, mosquito spray and hiking boots. And grocers may want to boost their marshmallow supplies. With an improving economy, enrollment in summer camps nationwide is surging, forcing some camps to hire extra counselors and build bigger facilities. And many camps are filling up much faster than in previous years, with the remaining spaces going quickly. The growth in enrollment ranges from 5% to more than 30% among Southern California camps, with some camp directors saying they expect to reach capacity in the next month or so - nearly a month earlier than previous years.

Demand for enrollment at the California State University system is expected to rise by 57,000 undergraduate students over the next five years, driven by larger numbers of eligible high school graduates and community college transfers, according to a state report released Wednesday. But the report, by the California Postsecondary Education Commission, warns that those students will encounter an almost insurmountable hurdle caused by the state budget crisis, as Cal State moves to slash enrollment by 40,000 students in the next two years.

Saying they could not avoid a painful decision, University of California regents voted Wednesday to trim freshman enrollment for next fall by 2,300 students, or about 6%, as a response to reduced state funding during the worsening budget crisis. "None of us likes this," regents Chairman Richard Blum said of the student cut. But he placed responsibility for the action on state legislators, particularly Republicans opposed to tax increases.

California is beginning the process of shifting 1.1 million of the state's sickest and poorest patients into managed care, which healthcare officials say will cut costs and improve treatment. The move is part of a broader state plan to continue moving residents with publicly funded health coverage into managed care, prompting concerns among critics who fear that patients could lose their current doctors. State officials announced Wednesday that Los Angeles, Orange, San Diego and San Mateo will be the first counties to provide managed care to the patients, who are enrolled in both the federally run Medicare and the state-federal Medi-Cal program.

Jamaa Fanaka, who emerged as a dynamic black filmmaker with his gritty independent 1979 film "Penitentiary" and later made headlines with his legal battles alleging widespread discrimination against women and ethnic minorities in the film and television industry, has died. He was 69. Fanaka was found dead in his apartment in South Los Angeles on Sunday, said his daughter Tracey L. Gordon. The cause of death has not been determined, but she said it probably was the result of complications of diabetes.