SCHOOL'S IN FOR SUMMER COMMUNITY COLLEGES BEGIN CLASSES ENROLLMENT NUMBERS JUMP AT PIERCE, VALLEY, BUT MISSION SEES DROP.

Byline: LISA M. SODDERS Staff Writer

Summer enrollment at Pierce College is up 16 percent over last year, while Mission College saw enrollment plunge nearly 23 percent despite offering more courses, officials said.

Summer sessions for eight of the nine Los Angeles Community College District campuses began Monday, with most campuses offering two sessions and Mission, Los Angeles City and Los Angeles Harbor College offering three.

Summer enrollment numbers are usually just a fraction of regular fall or spring enrollment -- 7,717 students are enrolled at Pierce this summer compared with 17,180 last spring -- but the condensed sessions, usually just five to eight weeks long, provide students with a way to add units quickly.

Last-minute enrollment is common among community college students, with many of them juggling full- or part-time jobs and family responsibilities in addition to their classes. But extra measures taken by Pierce and Valley College to reach those students paid off.

Pierce officials sent reminder e-mails to 4,600 returning, continuing or newly enrolled students who had not yet signed up for classes June 6. By Monday, 967 of those had signed up for classes.

``That's 21 percent,'' Pierce President Robert Garber said. ``I was blown away.''

Valley College President Tyree Wieder said the campus personnel made a lot of telephone calls to students, asking them if their enrollment had gone smoothly and encouraging those who were enrolled but had not yet signed up for classes. Valley, with 6,771 students, had a 9 percent enrollment gain from last summer.

The campus also had a ``one-stop'' registration day that signed students up for summer and fall classes.

But at Mission, officials said a collection of problems combined to put the campus' 2,229 student summer enrollment 23 percent behind last year's despite an 8 percent increase in classes, and has forced the campus to cancel several classes that were underenrolled.

The campus is facing a more than $1 million deficit from low enrollments, so didn't do as much outreach or advertising as it usually does, said Maury Pearl, dean of institutional research.

Although parking is free, a parking garage now under construction requires many students to park in an off-campus lot and take a shuttle to campus. High gas prices also may have discouraged students from taking classes, which due to a scheduling change required them to be on campus four days a week instead of two, Pearl said.

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2 photos

Photo:

(1) Pierce College summer school students head toward the north campus parking lot between classes Wednesday afternoon. Enrollment increased 16 percent over last summer at the Woodland Hills campus.

(2) Pierce College students Aileen Alcantara, in front, and Arianna Villasenor get an early start on their history studies between classes Wednesday afternoon.

Joe Binoya/Special to the Daily News