MISSION COLLEGE CRITICIZED $5.7 MILLION IN STATE FUNDS INAPPROPRIATELY CLAIMED, CONTROLLER'S OFFICE SAYS.

Byline: Lisa M. Sodders Staff Writer

Mission College inappropriately claimed $5.7 million in state funds over a three-year period for enrollment in two noncredit computer courses, according to a report released Friday by the state Controller's Office.

The report stopped short of demanding that the two-year college repay the money. It called for officials from the college, the Los Angeles Community College District, the state Chancellor's Office and the state Department of Finance to meet ``to determine how to resolve'' the issue.

``We need to determine if this is a systemwide problem, and the controller wants to ensure that the money is being spent on its intended purpose and ultimately on educating our students,'' said Garin Casaleggio, spokesman for state Controller Steve Westly.

But officials from the LACCD, Mission College and the state Chancellor's Office maintain Mission never saw a dime of the money because the district had more students enrolled than the state pays it for.

``We don't anticipate paying any money back because we never got paid for it in the first place,'' said Darroch ``Rocky'' Young, senior vice chancellor for the nine-campus LACCD. ``The state does not fund colleges; it funds the district, and even after you take away the (enrollment) in question, we have another 3,041 in unfunded ... (enrollment) in the district,'' or about $5.53 million.

Mission College President Adriana Barrera said there was no deliberate attempt to defraud the state. She said it wouldn't have done the college any good to inflate the numbers because the money would have gone to the district, not the college.

The Controller's Office found problems in two of 14 noncredit courses offered from July 1, 2001, through June 30, 2004. The courses were Computer Technology in the Workplace, and Office Technology Lab.

Mission college reported 2,974 full-time equivalent student enrollment for the computer technology class, approximately 72 percent of the college's total noncredit course enrollment.

The Controller's Office determined the course was ineligible for state funding because, among other reasons, there was no instructor assigned to the course, no evidence that students received any instruction, and most students were unaware they were even enrolled in the course.

The report also found that the campus overstated the noncredit FTEs for the office technology lab, by reporting more student hours than the maximum number specified in the approved course outline.

Mission received between $1,798 and $1,839 for each FTE during the three-year period. Of the total $7.5 million in FTEs, the college claimed for the two courses, the Controller's Office found it was ineligible for state funds for 76 percent of it, or $5.7 million.

The problem may not be limited to just Mission, as neither the state Chancellor's Office nor the district Chancellor's Office monitors noncredit courses, the report said. It recommended that the Department of Finance and the state Chancellor's Office determine whether the practice is taking place at other colleges across the state, and to what extent.

Several weeks ago, LACCD Chancellor Peter Landsberger asked college presidents at all nine colleges to examine all noncredit courses. Young said the presidents have reported that all of the district's other noncredit courses appear to be in compliance.

Lisa M. Sodders, [phone]

lisa.sodders(at)dailynews.com