College of the Canyons leaders have watched enrollment soar in recent years, even as state budget cuts have forced officials to cut the number of courses each term.But that trend might end soon unless state funding turns around and community colleges, like COC, can add classes to meet the demand from students dealing with an economic downturn, officials said Wednesday.
“You really can’t continue to grow,” COC spokeswoman Sue Bozman said. “We’re going to start seeing a leveling out.”
Enrollment levels off when a college can’t hold more students and begins to drop when courses are continuously cut.
Declining enrollment is already taking place at many community colleges across the state.
On Wednesday, California Community Colleges Chancellor Jack Scott announced that 2009-10 enrollment projections show that the number of students has dropped by 1 percent, or 21,000 students.
The figures back up the historical trend that community college enrollment suffers whenever state funding drops.
“Our enrollment is not dropping due to a lack of demand,” Scott said in a statement. “As demonstrated by last year’s record high enrollment of nearly 3 million students, our colleges are more