I'll say it: Sarah Palin is a liar

Politics as usual from the "fresh" face Sarah Palin.
Fought earmarks? Fought the "bridge to nowhere"?
Don't think so.
If the above link doesn't work, try this one:
"No thanks" for the bridge to nowhere?

Swell

Well, now the LA Times is getting in on the act. In this morning’s Times (California's community colleges having a swell time), we’re told that “Recent high school graduates and mid-career adults are flocking to community colleges this fall as California campuses report enrollment jumps tied to the weak economy.”

Yep, when the economy goes south, community college enrollments go north.

Apparently, “returning adults” are a part of the story, or so says a counselor at Santiago Canyon College, which is experiencing a 9% enrollment increase. 

“Officials,” we’re told, “are estimating enrollment jumps of 6% to 15% this fall at California's 110 two-year campuses….”

According to state official Erik Skinner, districts say that “high unemployment rates” are helping drive this sudden swellage.

Naturally, not all the news is good. The governor’s proposed budget only allows for a 2% growth, and so, soon, colleges will experience shortfalls.

‘Cause community colleges don’t turn people away.

Naturally, the situation is different for the South Orange County Community College District, whose funding comes largely from local property taxes and not from Sacramento.

On the other hand, local property values have been declining significantly, and that means that fewer tax dollars will be collected, right?

Does anybody know how this works? When it comes to money and such, I'm a dolt.

Enrollments are up—but especially at Irvine Valley College

During flex week and at the August board meeting, Chancellor Raghu Mathur crowed repeatedly about increased enrollments and FTES. A trustee openly inferred that the district’s promotional efforts were responsible.

But the obvious question was: how widespread is this phenomenon? Is it state-wide? County-wide? 

Nobody seemed to know.

Well, it does appear that there is a general positive trend afoot. In yesterday’s OC Reg, our pal Marla Jo Fisher reports that, locally, “Enrollment was down at local public universities this fall–the first time in anyone's memory that the student population in a growing county actually decreased. But their loss was a gain for community colleges, which picked up students who'd been shut out of four-year schools.” (Students pick community colleges over universities this fall)

Marla seems to be implying that the increase in enrollments at community colleges can be attributed to the lower enrollments at public universities. I'm not so sure about that.

Marla provides a chart of “projected enrollment” per (local) college compared to enrollments a year ago:

Chapman U  +1.7
Soka U  +7

UCI  -6.8
CS Fullerton  -1.4

Cypress  +8.7
Fullerton  +7
IVC  +15.7
Saddleback  +8
Santa Ana  +0.8
Santiago Canyon  +0.5

According to a spokesman for OCC, “The cost of tuition and just about everything else is higher at the four-years.” He notes the high price of gas as well. Marla says that state universities have been “hiking student fees.” Meanwhile, “community colleges saw their fees reduced to $20 a unit last year.”

Obviously, the real standouts here are Cypress, Fullerton, IVC, and Saddleback—all of them community colleges. Their increases are matched by that of Soka, a private university in South County.

So, at least in Orange County, there is a general trend, and it is pretty consistent, and, no doubt, it is assisted to some extent by fee increases at UC. But since relatively few students go to our local UC (it has about 25,000 students total), this phenomenon would seem to reflect other factors, such as the economy.

WHAT ABOUT IVC?

But none of this explains why Irvine Valley College experienced roughly double the increase compared to the other colleges. IVC is the real anomaly here.

Anybody got any ideas?

(CAVEAT: I should mention that, historically, newspaper articles have tended to garble college data. Remember all that nonsense about "transfer rates" a year or so ago? For the actual data re our two colleges, see below.)

STATE-WIDE, NATION-WIDE:

It does appear that the enrollments trend is state-wide and nation-wide. Two weeks ago, Inside Higher Ed (The Community College Enrollment Boom) reported that “While enrollment has been growing steadily at many two-year institutions, this fall appears likely to set records….”

So Mathur can quit crowing. 

But, again, what about IVC?

ACCURATE & UP-TO-DATE DATA:

For up-to-date enrollment figures, go to Headcount. It seems to show IVC up by 10% and Saddleback up by 8%. (The exact figures are 10.4 and 7.9.)

FTES is what matters. (FTES: take the hours of student-instruction and divide by the hours of a full-time student. Many cc students do not take a traditional full-time load; many take less; many take more.) "Enrollments" (headcount) are only an indirect (and irregular) indication of FTES.

For current FTES data, see Preliminary enrollment comparison report. As of yesterday, Saddleback FTES was up 9.3%. IVC FTES was up 15.6%. 

That last figure is pretty spectacular.

So I guess she's extra smart, too

From this morning’s Inside Higher Ed:

Gov. Sarah Palin, the Republican nominee for vice president, attended four colleges in six years (one of them twice) before earning her bachelor’s degree. The Associated Press on Thursday tracked Palin’s move from college to college. She attended (in order) Hawaii Pacific University, North Idaho College, the University of Idaho, and Matanuska-Susitna College, and then returned to the University of Idaho, where she earned a degree.

Population of Alaska: 683,478 (Fewer than Santa Ana + Anaheim)
Population of OC: 3,002,048

Alaska's "state look": perky

Palin censors books?

Who made the decision to pull the plug? —Not Mathur

Earlier today, I forwarded, to Dr. Bill Vega, Chancellor Mathur’s recent email announcing Vega’s sudden “discontinuance” as consultant. As you know (see yesterday's post), in that email, Mathur declared that he, Mathur, made the decision to discontinue Vega’s work. Mathur’s exact words were:

I’ve decided to discontinue the work of the consultant, Dr. Bill Vega, effective immediately. He has graciously concurred.

Oddly enough, Vega offers a different account of the "discontinuance" decision, for he wrote back to me, saying, “Roy, no, it was my recommendation.”

He then explained that he was struck by the trust established among the members of the IVC Accreditation Focus Group and the progress that they believe that they have made. Evidently, this persuaded him that there is no need for the report that he was being asked to write. And so he recommended discontinuance.

That is, it was Vega's recommendation, not Mathur's.

In fact, during Vega's "open forum" at IVC on Tuesday, he hinted that he might well pull the plug on his consultation gig. He also clearly implied that he agreed with the strong objections that were voiced during the forum to the Chancellor's involvement in or interference with IVC decision-making.

Nevertheless, in his email yesterday, Mathur attributed to Vega the judgment that "the decision-making process seems to be working well and any further assessment work is not necessary at this time."

Mid-Morning Matinee: Hypocrites on parade! A musical comedy.

(The first few seconds are a bit like an abstract painting but then it comes into focus. Be patient.)

Rejecting Fishy Advice

‘Teach Them to Challenge Authority’: “Stanley Fish may be telling academics to keep their opinions to themselves, but Gregory S. Prince Jr. thinks it is time for colleges to stop trying to make their classrooms neutral. Prince, the former president of Hampshire College, argues for professors to take all kinds of positions — as a tool for challenging their students….” (See my Mr. Fish is all wet)