Fall enrollment up for BCC

BARSTOW • The biggest problem facing most Barstow college students is getting the classes they need, officials say — enrollment is higher than last year and the number of classes hasn’t changed.

But for a handful of students like Tony Guerrero, who started his first semester at Barstow Community College Monday, finding classes isn’t a problem.

“I just graduated from Barstow High School,” Guerrero said. “I enrolled the last week of school.”

Guerrero, a humanities major, may have been lucky, but some of his peers weren’t. Many of the students he shared a room with Monday morning were on waiting to get into the class. His English instructor had to turn students away because she ran out of chairs, he said.

Fall semester 2010 kicked off with about 260 more full-time students than last year, said college spokesperson Maureen Stokes. The first day of the semester also saw about 700 more people on campus than last year. About 423 students are from the Victor Valley area.

At Barstow College and other colleges, students are having a tougher time getting into classes, said Cal Brinkerhoff, vice president of student affairs. Many find themselves added to a waiting list. Many classrooms can take up to 35 students, Brinkerhoff said. Online courses take up to 50.

College administrators haven’t cut any classes this fall, and likely won’t, Stokes said. But with a $1.7 million deficit in its budget, no new classes have been added and it’s likely the college will have to cut some classes in the spring.  

“What we didn’t do was open up new sections,” Stokes said, adding that in the past if demand for a particular math class was high enough, administrators would add another class to the schedule: “Our budget won’t allow us.”

Cassandra Griffin, another first-year student at Barstow college, was also able to get the classes she needs. The only problem is the orientation class she thought started Monday doesn’t start until October.

“No one let me know that orientation started in October,” she said. “For the first two months I’ll for sure be out on my own.”

College officials have also taken steps to prevent power outages on campus. After two outages this summer, Stokes said backup generators have been installed to prevent blackouts when students are taking classes. The last outage happened Aug. 9 and cut phone and Internet service at the college.

Contact the writer:
(760) 256-4123 or jcejnar@desertdispatch.com

By the numbers:
1136 • Number of full time college students Aug. 17, 2009
1397 • Number of full time college students Aug. 16, 2010
3574 • Number of people on campus Aug. 17, 2009
4271 • Number of people on campus Aug. 16, 2010