DOCUMENT RESUME ED 450 835 JC 010 210 Beachler, Judy AUTHOR Los Rios Community College District RESEARCH Brief, TITLE 1999-2000. Los Rios Community Coll. District, Sacramento, CA. Office of INSTITUTION Institutional Research. 2000-00-00 PUB DATE 27p.; The December 1999 and March 2000 briefs were written NOTE by Betty Glyer-Culver. PUB TYPE Reports Descriptive (141) EDRS PRICE MF01/PCO2 Plus Postage. Accountability; *College Administration; *Community DESCRIPTORS Colleges; *Educational Practices; *Educational Trends; Public Education; *Transfer Rates (College); Two Year Colleges IDENTIFIERS *Los Rios Community College District CA ABSTRACT These nine research briefs address various internal and external issues affecting Los Rios Community Colleges (California). Featured topics during 1999-2000 academic year include: joining the National Student Loan Clearinghouse to improve financial aid services, the decline of student transfers from Los Rios to California public universities, the projected population growth in the college district service area, new high school graduates and their enrollments in the Los Rios Community College District (LRCCD), a demographic profile of disabled students receiving campus support services, a demographic and outcomes profile of distance education students, the 1998-99 academic year profile of degrees and certificates awarded to LRCCD students, Student-Right-to-Know Program completion, and transfer rates. Data released by the California Postsecondary Education Commission for 1998-99 show that the number of student transfers from Los Rios to the CSU and UC declined for the fourth consecutive year. One of the strategies for consideration to improve the transfer picture is to assure that literature and academic requirements for student transfer are clearly written, up-to-date, and shared with every new high school graduate enrolling who has indicated transfer as a goal. Community colleges have control over local initiatives in support of student transfer. Establishing such initiatives may go far in reversing the transfer decline. Contains tables and graphs. (JA) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. Research Brief) 1999-2000 Los Rios Community College District U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Office of Educational Research and Improvement PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE AND EDUCATIONAL UCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION DISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL HAS CENTER (ERIC) BEEN GRANTED BY This document has been reproduced as received from the person or organization originating it. 51)N2 Minor changes have been made to improve reproduction quality. Points of view or opinions stated in this TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES document do not necessarily represent INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) official OERI position or policy. 1 BEST COPYAVAILABLE 2 Return to RESEARCH brief Table of Contents August 1999 RESEARCH brief LOS RIOS COLLEGES GO LIVE WITH THE NATIONAL STUDENT LOAN CLEARINGHOUSE The National Student Loan Clearinghouse (NSLC) has taken over the responsibility for filing all required Financial Aid reports for American River College, Cosumnes River College and Sacramento City College beginning with the series related to the end of the Spring 1999 semester. Los Rios colleges join well over half of the California community colleges in utilizing Clearinghouse services. What Is NSLC? NSLC is an industry-sponsored consortium whose operating costs are underwritten by the member guarantors, and servicers of federal financial aid loans. The purpose of NSLC was to streamline what was a very fragmented and confusing enrollment verification process for colleges and universities, the U.S. Department of Education and the consortium members. Through the establishment of NSLC, colleges and universities report required information to one central entity, rather than to large numbers of agencies. NSLC then files all reports on behalf of member colleges. For the Los Rios colleges, files will be generated three times in the fall and spring semesters and once in the summer. Why Join NSLC? There are important benefits for Financial Aid Offices, for Students and for Institutional Research. Benefits to Our Financial Aid Offices The number of reports to be filed is reduced substantially, thus freeing valuable staff time to assist students. Student default rates are reduced because lenders receive accurate, automated, frequent enrollment status updates. Benefits to Our Students Students are able to obtain in-school deferments for loan repayment more promptly. Students avoid receiving inappropriate notification from lender collection agencies when they have re -enrolled in school and should be granted a deferment. Benefits for Institutional Research from a New NSLC Service A new NSLC program allows colleges and universities to obtain an electronic file from the Clearinghouse that tracks the names and locations of institutions of higher education throughout the nation where student leavers have enrolled, provided that those institutions are also Clearinghouse members. Thus, colleges and universities can obtain the most comprehensive student transfer data available. An initiative undertaken by the Chancellor's Office for California Community Colleges to pay the cost of this new service will provide Los Rios colleges with comprehensive transfer data about all former students who were time students in Fall 1995. Files will be returned to the District in late Fall 1999 for further analysis. The college/university enrollments accounted for by NSLC: 91% of all enrollments in California, 100% of all private institutional enrollments in CA and 79% of all enrollments in the U.S. are reported to the Clearinghouse, as of April 30, 1999. This figure continues to grow nationally each month. Many California community colleges are now planning to join NSLC, primarily for this new benefit for better transfer data. 3 A Los Rios Team Effort Efforts on the part of college Financial Aid offices, college Admissions and Records offices and the district Institutional Research (IR) and Information Technology (IT) offices were initiated in January 1999 to make this possible. A special thanks go to IT Programmer, Cindy Crandall, for creating the flat file structure from the Eden System and to IR Senior Systems Analyst, Minh La, for completing calculations on the research side-of-the-house and uploading the final files to the Clearinghouse seven times each year. This RESEARCH brief was written by Judy Beach ler, Director of Institutional Research (IR), LRCCD. For more information, please contact IR Secretary, Chue Lo at (916) 568-3131 or by e-mail to [email protected]. Converted to HTML format by IR Secretary, Chue Lo, September 1999. Return to RESEARCH brief Table of Contents Questions and comments about this information or about this web site should be sent to the WEB administrator, Minh La, [email protected] They will then be directed to the appropriate staff member for a response. (Last modified: September 27, 2000) Institutional Research, Los Rios Community College District, Sacramento, California 95825-3981; http//:irweb.do.losrios.cc.ca.us 4 Return to RESEARCH brief Table of Contents October 1999 RESEARCH brief STUDENT TRANSFERS FROM LOS RIOS TO CALIFORNIA PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES DECLINE Data released by the California Postsecondary Education Commission (CPEC) for 1998-99 show that the number of student transfers from Los Rios to the CSU and UC declined for the fourth consecutive year. 2906 2861 2766 2747 2739 3000 2781 2612 2680 2646 2547 0 2 2000 cn c 1419 1401 1364 1355 1292 1274 1234 1231 1183 1119 t 1000 1009 1040 1096 o 1086 1022 1044 984 972 957 982 528 509 474 506 476 364 380 318 375 291 0 1997-98 1998-99 1995-96 1996-97 1993-94 1994-95 1991-92 1992-93 1989-90 1990-91 CRC aSCC --MLRCCD ARC Transfers to All Public Universities (CSU and UC, Combined) in 1998-99 Cosumnes River College saw a slight increase in the number of student transfers from one-year earlier (0.6%) Sacramento City College's transfers increased at a larger 2.8% ,, But American River College's decline of 5.4% left Los Rios with 1.3% fewer transfers than in 1997-98 Statewide there was 1.1% fewer community college transfer students to CSU and UC Larger Dip Was in Transfers to the UC in 1998-99 SCC experienced an annual decrease of 3.3% in the number of UC transfers CRC experienced a 3.7% decrease ARC experienced a 11.5% decrease District-wide there was 7.0% fewer transfer students, while statewide figures remained almost the same, declining by 0.5% It is important to note that transfers to UC represent only 15% of all district-wide transfers and slightly more than 18%, statewide District-wide Transfer Numbers to CSU Remain Unchanged in 1998-99 from 1997-98 Levels District-wide there was little change in the number of transfers to CSU in 1998-99 (a 0.2% decline), following 5 annual declines of 6.6% in 1995-96, 3.2% in 1996-97 and 1.2% in 1997-98 4.3% increase , SCC experienced a , CRC experienced a 1.1% increase ARC had 4.2% fewer transfer students going to CSU , On a statewide basis, 1.2% fewer students transferred to CSU Transfers to CSU, Sacramento, the Major Transfer Institution for Los Rios Colleges 79.5% of all Los Rios transfers to CSU attended CSU, Sacramento in 1998-99 3.6% increase from 1994-95 to 1998- , Transfers from CRC to CSU, Sacramento have been fairly stable, with a 99 Transfers to CSU, Sacramento have declined from SCC by 12.4% over the five-year period; however, transfers 4, from SCC increased by 2.4% in 1998-99 from one year earlier by 4.0% from the 1997-98 level , ARC saw a 5-year decline of 14.1%; transfers also declined annually Changing Number of Transfers to CSU, Sacramento from Nearby Colleges from 1994-95 to 1998-99 It is interesting to note that the number of transfer students from two community colleges in close proximity to Los Rios colleges has increased to all CSU campuses in general and to CSU, Sacramento more specifically, over this most recent five-year period: , San Joaquin Delta transfers increased by: 12.2% to CSU, Sacramento and 10.8% to all CSU campuses , Sierra College's transfers increased at even larger rates: by 16.3% to CSU, Sacramento and by 23.6% to all CSU campuses , Yuba College has seen transfer students declining slightly during this time frame, but there was a 12.4% increase in transfers to CSU, Sacramento from 1997-98 to 1998-99 , These colleges in close proximity to LRCCD and to CSU, Sacramento; they may be more aggressively supporting transfer for their students through counseling, information dissemination and/or workshops in recent years, compared to the past Why Are These Numbers Declining? District-wide discussions have raised questions about the declining number of transfers: , Do they represent smaller entering cohorts than in the past? , Have policies at the CSU and UC changed the proportional balance between new high school graduates entering as freshman and transfer students? Have the several innovative projects developed by local high schools with CSU, Sacramento and UC, Davis to increase going-to-university rates directly from high school influenced the proportion of transfer and native 6 students to public universities? prepared students to go to private institutions in California or to institutions that are , Have decisions by transfer out-of-state influenced these numbers? Responding to the Decline We have very little control over any of these possible influences on declining transfer numbers. However, as we see increasing transfer counts from other community colleges in close proximity both to Los Rios colleges and to our closest senior transfer institutions, these influences are questionable. Moreover, new high school graduates with the new high school graduate cohort of 2,364 students transfer as their goal are enrolling in increasing numbers district-wide in Fall 1994 grew by 42.0% to a Fall 1998 cohort of 3,357. With 53% of all new high school graduates planning to transfer who enrolled in Fall 1994 growing to 60% by Fall 1998, staff throughout the district may need to consider new strategies to help this growing cohort of students wishing to transfer. Strategies for Consideration to Improve the Transfer Picture Assure that literature about academic requirements for student transfer is clearly and simply written, up-to-date and shared with every new high school graduate enrolling who has indicated transfer as a goal enrolls with a goal to transfer, providing counseling, a , Personally contact each new high school graduate who thorough explanation of student transfer literature and an opportunity to develop their guaranteed Transfer Admissions Agreement Transfer, EOPS, DSPS, Matriculation services offices , Support the transfer function through all special student and other offices Track all potential transfer students and continue to contact them individually about academic progress toward 4, their goal Develop peer or mentoring workshops each year, bringing back previously enrolled students who have ,, successfully transferred so they can share their experiences with and give advice to current students struggle with the most, and establish peer tutoring to , Determine which required transfer courses students assure more successful completion When recruiting students at area high schools, assure that students are fully informed about transfer opportunities, the transfer process and the guaranteed Transfer Admissions Agreement Maintain strong working relationships in support of student transfer with admissions and transfer staff at our senior institutions, particularly CSU, Sacramento and UC, Davis, universities where many Los Rios students plan to go Sponsor senior institutional orientation workshops at the colleges (or centrally across the district), to give students an opportunity to learn more about college life on each UC and CSU campus Community colleges do not have control over policy for admitting students to senior institutions. They do have control over local initiatives in support of student transfer. Establishing such initiatives may go far in reversing the transfer decline. This RESEARCH brief was written by Judy Beach ler, Director of Institutional Research (IR), LRCCD. For more information, please contact IR Secretary, Chue Lo at (916) 568-3131 or by e-mail to [email protected]. 7 Converted to HTML format by Chue Lo, IR Secretary, December 1999. Return to RESEARCH brief Table of Contents Questions and comments about this information or about this web site should be sent to the WEB administrator, Minh La, [email protected] They will then be directed to the appropriate staff member for a response. (Last modified: September 27, 2000) Institutional Research, Los Rios Community College District, Sacramento, California 95825-3981; http//:irweb.do.losrios.cc.ca.us 8 Return to RESEARCH brief Table of Contents November 1999 RESEARCH brief (March 2000 Correction) POPULATION GROWTH IN THE LRCCD SERVICE AREA: WHERE WILL IT OCCUR? With a 1999 population of 1.71 million, Greater Sacramento has been among the fastest growing metropolitan area not just of California but of the entire U.S. And according to February 1999 figures released by the Sacramento Area Council of Governments (SACOG), this growth is projected to continue into the next century -- to 2.14 million by 2010 and to 2.34 million by 2015. Since Los Rios Community College District serves much of Greater Sacramento (all but Placer County), this growth will have a substantial impact on related enrollment growth for the district. In fact, the official enrollment projections released this month by the Research Unit of the CA Community Colleges Chancellor's Office suggest that in Fall 2010, LRCCD colleges and centers will enroll 87,227 students, up 43.5% over Fall 1998. By Fall 2015, LRCCD is expected to enroll 101,598 students. Important to successful program and facility planning for the District is an understanding of where population increases will occur. Chart 1 outlines expected population growth in communities that are closest to each Los Rios college and major center. As shown in this chart, the area in closest proximity to Cosumnes River College is expected to see the most growth by 2010, followed by the communities in closest proximity to what will be Folsom Lake College by 2010. New population growth is similar for American River College and Sacramento City College, while new population growth in the area surrounding the El Dorado Center is expected to be much more limited. Community level population summaries represent each area. Communities are the official "Regional Analysis Districts" defined by SACOG. Chart 1 New Population Projected for Communities within the LRCCD Service Area: from 1999 to 2010 and 1999 to 2015 200,000 - 181,299 150,000 - 0 ^ 119,2681 105,926 85,925 100,000 - 82,630 a { 67,858 61,129 60,365 z 50,000 - 22,988 15,858 SCC Area FLC Area EDC Area ARC Area CRC Area New Population in 2010 New Population in 2015 Source: Sacramento Area Council of Governments, Population Estimates for Regional Analysis Districtgl 999) and Population Projections for Regional Analysis Districts. Communities in closest proximity to American River College (ARC Area) include: Antelope, Arden Arcade, Carmichael, North Highlands, North Sacramento, Rio Linda-Elverta, North Natomas, South Natomas and, approximately three- fourths of Citrus Heights and two-thirds of Fair Oaks. Communities in closest proximity to Cosumnes River College (CRC Area) include: Cosumnes, Delta, Elk Grove, Franklin-Laguna, Galt, Southeast County and approximately two-thirds of South Sacramento and of Vineyard, as well. Communities in closest proximity to the El Dorado Center (EDC Area) include: Coloma -Lotus, Diamond Springs, the El Dorado High Country, Georgetown, Mt. Aukum/Grizzly Flat, Pilot Hill, Pollock Pines and Placerville. Communities in closest proximity to the Folsom Lake Center (FLC Area) include: Cameron Park/Shingle Springs, El Dorado Hills, Folsom, Orangevale, Rancho Cordova, Rancho Murieta and approximately one-third of Fair Oaks and 9 one-fourth of Citrus Heights. Communities in closest proximity to Sacramento City College (SCC Area) include: Downtown Sacramento, East Sacramento, Land Park/Pocket/Meadowview, Davis, West Sacramento and approximately one-third of South Sacramento and of Vineyard, as well. It is important to point out, however, that living in homes that are in close proximity to a college or center does not necessarily dictate enrollment at that location. Students select community college locations for many other reasons, such as proximity of a college to the workplace and/or to enroll in a special program of study that is unique to one college. In addition, student attendance patterns can also be dictated because of facility or program limitations of a college that might be more conveniently located near home. Chart 2 outlines what the total population will be in each area, given both existing 1999 population and new growth by 2010 and 2015. Communities in closest proximity to ARC will still be home to the largest population within the District; approximately 30.7% of LRCCD area residents will be living in closest proximity to ARC in 2010 and 29.4% will be in 2015. Proportions of District residents for the other colleges and center will be as follow: 25.4% in 2010 and 24.7% in 2015 will be living in closest proximity to SCC; 19.6% in 2010 and 21.3% in 2015 will be living in closest proximity to CRC; 19.0% in 2010 and 19.5% in 2015 will be living in closest proximity to the Folsom Lake College; and 5.3% in 2010 and 5.2% in 2015 will be living in closest proximity to the El Dorado Center. Chart 2 Total Population Projected for Communities within the LRCCD Service Area: in 2010 and in 2015 600,000 527,688549'189 461 517 ' 435,957 397,796 364,607 j400,000 335,765 326,539 o_ 200,000 90,252 97,382 FLC Area ARC Area SCC Area CRC Area EDC Area Total Population in 2010 Total Population in 2015 Source: Sacramento Area Council of Governments, Population Estimates for Regional Analysis Districtgl 999) and Population Projections for Regional Analysis Districts. This RESEARCH brief was written by Judy Beachler, Director of Institutional Research (IR), LRCCD. For more information, please contact IR Secretary, Chue Lo at (916) 568-3131 or by e-mail to [email protected]. Converted to HTML format by IR Secretary, Chue Lo, April 2000. Return to RESEARCH brief Table of Contents Questions and comments about this information or about this web site should be sent to the WEB administrator, Minh La, [email protected] They will then be directed to the appropriate staff member for a response. (Last modified: November 08, 2000) Institutional Research, Los Rios Community College District, Sacramento, California 95825-3981; http//:irweb.do.losrios.cc.ca.us 10