COLLEGES SERVE COMMUNITIES HIGHLY ACCESSIBLE INSTITUTIONS CATER TO ALL LEVELS OF AMBITION.

Byline: Lisa Van Proyen Correspondent

After being a stay-at-home mom for 28 years, Linda Daleo Topdjian found the prospect of going back to school at Los Angeles Valley College enticing as her 18-year-old daughter enrolled in some classes there.

Today, the 52-year-old and her daughter, now 19, make sure to schedule their classes at similar times so they can commute together from their Tujunga home.

The elder Topdjian aims to get her general education courses and then transfer to California State University, Northridge, for a degree in journalism. Meanwhile, her daughter is well on her way toward a business degree to eventually become a corporate attorney.

I'll make more money than her, joked the daughter, Liz Topdjian.

The mother-daughter pair is among the thousands of students in the San Fernando Valley who have chosen a community college for a personal and quality education.

If you focus and your attendance is good, and you get the right teacher, you can get a Harvard or a Yale University education here because they work with you and they see to it that you succeed, Linda Topdjian said.

Whether people are planning to transfer to a four-year university, enhance their skills to compete in a tight employment market or obtain a certificate for a job in two years, the San Fernando Valley is home to several community colleges that provide a wide variety of programs at affordable costs.

The newest of the community colleges, Los Angeles Mission College in Sylmar, offers more than 50 academic disciplines, with its strong areas of study including administration of justice for aspiring police and parole officers, and one of the strongest culinary arts programs in Southern California, said Eduardo Pardo, a college spokesman.

What differentiates us is we're a very small, intimate campus with a strong interaction between students and instructors, Pardo said.

In Woodland Hills, Pierce College offers 100 areas of study, including chemistry, life sciences and business. The college's honors program with high school students also has the enviable record of never having had a student turned down to UCLA's College of Letters and Science in the past 15 years.

To the west, Moorpark College offers more than 1,500 classes in 100 areas of study, including an exotic animal course that marks one of only two such programs in the nation.

To the east, Glendale Community College diligently works to transfer students to four-year universities, said Sarkis Ghazarian, the Transfer Center coordinator.

Glendale created one of the first transfer centers in the state about 14 years ago. It was one of the first institutions to become part of a pilot program. That gives us an advantage, he said.

Four nights per week, a drop-in center is available, where representatives from UCLA, UC Irvine and CSU Los Angeles regularly visit.

We let our campus community know what's on the radar screens so our students will make the best possible decisions, Ghazarian said. Programs at GCC with a high number of transfer students include the biology and culinary arts programs. GCC's biology division has the highest transfer rate of biology majors to UCLA of any Southern California community college, officials said.

Besides preparing students for careers, community colleges are indeed colleges for the community.

For example, GCC's Tutors Today, Teachers Tomorrow program has students earning credits by tutoring children in local grammar schools, said Ann Ransford, a college spokeswoman.

As they help to bring the reading level up in schools, the college students are receiving a $6 hourly stipend to pay their tuition and books at a four-year university.

Glendale Unified guarantees them a job. It's a wonderful program, Ransford said.

Valley College offers the community a planetarium with events almost every Friday night, and a museum documenting the San Fernando Valley's history, said Cindy Sardo, a college spokeswoman. The music department also hosts free concerts each Thursday.

This is a campus that can have a lot of projects and activities going on, said Tyree Wieder, Valley College's president.

COMMUNITY COLLEGES

--Los Angeles Valley College, 5800 Fulton Ave., Valley Glen; [phone]. The 105-acre campus was founded in 1949 and serves nearly 18,700 students. Associate degrees are offered in such areas as accounting, cinema arts, real estate, nursing, oceanography and urban studies. About 60 occupational certificates also are available. Strong programs of study include media arts, nursing and child development. Cost to attend: $11 per unit. Student- to-instructor ratio is about 35:1. The freshman transfer rate to two- or four-year colleges is 29.8 percent, according to the Los Angeles Community College Chancellor's Office. College president: Tyree Weider. Web site address is www.lavalleycollege.com.

--Los Angeles Mission College, 13356 Eldridge Ave., Sylmar; [phone]. The newest of the colleges in the Los Angeles Community College District, this 22.5-acre campus is located in the northeast San Fernando Valley. The campus was founded in 1975 and serves 7,800 students. Some strong programs include multimedia, administration of justice, child development, life sciences and forensic photography. Cost to attend: $11 per unit. Student-to- instructor ratio: 27:1. Transfer rate: 32.4 percent. College president: Adriana D. Barrera. Web site address is www.lamission.cc.ca.us.

--Pierce College, 6201 Winnetka Ave., Woodland Hills; [phone]. Founded in 1947, the 426-acre campus serves about 18,500 students. Pierce is noted for its fast-track honors program in which no student completing the program has ever been turned down by the University of California, Los Angeles. The college is on the 15-week semester plan and is one of the largest feeder schools to California State University, Northridge. The college offers more than 100 areas of study, including chemistry, business and technology. Fee to attend: $11 per unit. Student-to-instructor ratio: about 30:1. Transfer rate: 29.9 percent. College president: Darroch Young. Web site address is www.piercecollege.com.

--Moorpark College, 7075 Campus Road, Moorpark, [phone]. Founded in 1967, the 150-acre campus serves about 14,500 students. The college offers 1,500 classes in 100 areas of study, including an exotic animal program only offered at two colleges in the nation. Fee to attend: $11 per unit. Student-to-instructor ratio: n/a. Class sizes range from 25-40 per class. Transfer rate: 18.9 percent. College president: James Walker. Web site address is www.moorparkcollege.net.

--Glendale Community College, 1500 N. Verdugo Road, Glendale; [phone]. Founded in 1927, the 53-acre campus now serves 17,074 students and offers such major fields of interest as culinary arts, aviation mechanics, biology, business and economics, computer science and computer engineering. The college is also affiliated with California Institute of Technology for one-year scholarships and summer internships for math and science students. Fee to attend: $11 per unit. Student-to-instructor ratio: about 25:1. Transfer rate: 17 percent. College president: John A. Davitt. Web site address is www.glendale.cc.ca.us.

--College of the Canyons, 26455 N. Rockwell Canyon Road, Valencia; [phone]. Founded in 1969 and now one of the fastest-growing community colleges in the state, College of the Canyons is recognized for its technical advancement, professional programs and learning excellence. In order to serve the growing population of the Santa Clarita Valley, a 4,500-square-foot satellite facility is slated to open this year in Canyon Country, with four classrooms and a computer lab. Student-to-teacher ratio is 23:1. Transfer rate: 29.2. College president: Dianne G. Van Hook. Web site address is www.coc.cc.ca.us.

--Antelope Valley College, 3041 W. Ave. K, Lancaster 93536; [phone]. Antelope Valley College is a California community college that offers associate in science and associate in arts degrees and prepares students for transfer to four-year colleges. Technical, trade, business, allied health and service programs are offered for the occupational student. College president: Daniel Larios. Web site address is www.avc.edu.

--Cerro Coso Community College, 3000 College Heights Blvd., Ridgecrest 93555-7777; [phone]. Cerro Coso is a California community college that offers 25 associate in science and associate in arts degrees. It also offers distance learning degrees through its online program. Web site is www.cc.cc.ca.us.

OTHER LOCAL COLLEGES

--California Lutheran University, 60 W. Olsen Road, Thousand Oaks; [phone] for undergraduates, [phone] for graduates. The university was founded in 1959 and serves more than 2,800 students. CLU is a 290-acre campus with an emphasis in liberal arts and professional studies. Rooted in the Lutheran tradition of Christian faith, the university encourages critical inquiry into matters of both faith and reason. Graduate centers are also located in Woodland Hills and Ventura. The college offers 34 majors and 29 minors. Average annual tuition cost: $18,060 (undergraduate). Graduate students pay $425 per unit for MBAs and financial planning degrees. All other graduate programs cost $370 per unit. Student-to-instructor ratio is 15:1. University president: Luther Luedtke. Web site address is www.clunet.edu.

--California Institute of the Arts, 24700 McBean Parkway, Valencia; [phone]. Established in 1961 by Walt and Roy Disney, CalArts is the first degree-granting institution of higher learning in the United States created specifically for students of the visual and performing arts. It offers programs in art, music, dance, film/video, theater and creative writing, leading to bachelor's or master's degrees. CalArts president: Steven Lavine. Web site address is www.calarts.edu.

--Occidental College, 1600 Campus Road, Eagle Rock; [phone]. The college was founded in 1887 and is one of the nation's few leading liberal arts colleges in an urban setting. The 120-acre campus is home to 1,796 students, with the top five major fields of study being economics for business and management, English and comparative literary studies, art history, psychology, and diplomacy and world affairs. Tuition and fees: $32,307 (includes tuition, room, board and fees). Student-to-instructor ratio: 12:1. University president: Ted Mitchell. Web site address is www.oxy.edu.

--The Master's College, 21726 Placerita Canyon Road, Santa Clarita; [phone]. Founded in 1927 as the Los Angeles Baptist Theological Seminary, the 100-acre college was renamed in 1985. The four-year college is a liberal arts school with a biblical world view taught in all courses, which range from accounting to print media to social science and theology. Annual tuition: $7,760 (12 to 18 units per semester). Student-to-instructor ratio: 16:1. College president: John MacArthur. Web site address is www.masters.edu.

--Woodbury University, 7500 Glenoaks Blvd., Burbank; [phone]. The university was established at its Burbank location in 1987. The 22-acre campus serves 1,404 students and offers 15 courses of study, including its flagship programs in business and management and architecture and design. Average annual tuition is $18,204. Average student-to-instructor ratio is 16:1. University president: Kenneth Nielsen. Web site address is www.woodbury.edu.

--ITT Technical Institute, 12669 Encinitas Ave., Sylmar; [phone]. A career college, ITT's 30,000-square-foot office on 3.5 acres in Sylmar was founded in 1982 and serves about 600 students. The college offers two-year associate degree programs and a bachelor's program. Some of the major courses of study include information technology, computer electronics and computer visualization technology. Tuition range: $240-330 per credit hour (typical duration is 12 hours per quarter). Student-to-instructor ratio is 20:1. College president: Nader Mojtabai. Web site address is www.ITT-tech.edu --University of Phoenix, 5955 DeSoto Ave., Suite 200, Woodland Hills; and 1202 W. Ave. J, Suite 500, Lancaster, 93534; [phone]. Geared for the working person, the college is the nation's largest private, accredited university, with 107 campuses and learning centers in 20 states. The 33,000-square-foot Woodland Hills facility offers bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees; the Lancaster campus, bachelor's and master's. Some of the college's major fields include business, accounting, education, health care and technology. Annual fee to attend: $300-$300 per credit hour (graduate programs may be higher). Student-to-instructor ratio: n/a. Web site address is www.phoenix.edu.

CAPTION(S):

photo, 2 boxes

Photo:

(color) Posters for four-year universities foster dreams at Glendale Community College's Transfer Center, a leader in preparing students for further study.

Andy Holzman/Staff Photographer

Box:

(1) COMMUNITY COLLEGES (see text)

(2) OTHER LOCAL COLLEGES (see text)