With summer courses at College of the Canyons Canyon Country campus 100 percent full, college leaders are struggling to meet a growing demand from students as the state cuts funding to community colleges.

At COC's Valencia campus, the situation is hardly different, with 98 percent of summer courses full.

"To see almost everything full, it's a whole new world for us and for our students," said COC spokeswoman Sue Bozman on Thursday. "The demand is huge. It only took days to fill up our classes."

At both campuses, the waiting lists for classes are quickly filling up as students stay on the lookout for any open spots.
State budget cuts have forced COC leaders to strategically reduce the number of courses each term.

This summer, the college will offer 51 courses at the Canyon Country campus with another 144 at the Valencia campus. These figures exclude specialized courses and noncredit classes.

Between 2008 and 2010, COC has reduced the number of summer courses by 60 percent, according to college statistics. The decision has left many students without the classes they need.

"Our job really is to serve students," Bozman said. "Turning away students is not something we are used to doing or something we like."

The college even began scaling down the number of students allowed on a waiting list. Instead of 20 students to a waiting list, it's down to 10.

"It gave false hope to students who were not going to be in their classes," Bozman said.

Like other community colleges, COC has faced demand from graduating high school seniors, displaced students from the University of California and California State University systems and out-of-work people trying to retrain themselves for new careers.

Spring-semester enrollment is projected to increase by 5 percent to about 23,000 students, Bozman said.

And because the community college hasn't received enough money from the state, COC won't receive money for a projected 1,447 of its students this year, Bozman said.

COC's demand is just one example of what community colleges across the state are facing. As a whole, the California Community Colleges' budget shrank by 8 percent during the 2009-10 year.

"We estimated 140,000 students were turned away this academic year," said California Community Colleges Chancellor Jack Scott on Thursday. "I'm hearing that on some college campuses thousands of students are on waiting lists for school. And in some colleges, students have camped out overnight in order to get into summer classes."

Although the governor's budget proposal still has funding hurdles for community colleges, it provides 2.21 percent increase in funding for growth, Bozman said.

"Even though we're grateful to have some growth provided, it's certainly not going to serve all the demand," Bozman said.