Fall 2004 Enrollment Analysis

Mesa College Summary

Headcount and FTES

A total of 20,557 students were enrolled at Mesa College in fall 2004 as of census. In comparison with fall 2003 (20,847), student enrollment decreased by 290 students or 1.4%. Total FTES decreased by 1.7% (7,144.48 in fall 2004 vs. 7,262.63 in fall 2003 as of census).

Demographics

Analysis of the total student population in fall 2004 showed that 69% were continuing students, 6.8% were first-time freshmen, 12.9% were first-time transfers, 9.5% were returning students (left the district for more than one year and returned in fall 2004), and 1.6% were current high school students. The percentage of continuing students remained unchanged compared to fall 2003 (70%). Most demographics did not change except for a slight decrease in the percentage of white students.

New Student Enrollment by Service Area

First-time student enrollment by service area was analyzed and results showed that enrollment of first-time freshmen decreased from the college’s service area.

Residency

In terms of residency status, 95.1% of all students were California residents. Non-residents accounted for 4.9% of the total student population. The proportion of non-resident students remained almost unchanged from fall 2003 to fall 2004.

Enrollment by Subject Area

Student enrollment change by subject area was also examined. Only subject areas with 100 or more students in fall 2004 were included in this analysis. The top five subject areas with the largest enrollment increases from fall 2003 to fall 2004 were: (1) Journalism, 102%; (2) ESOL, 66%; (3) Travel and Tourism, 48%; (4) Disabled Students Programs & Services, 38%; and (5) French, 30%. The top five subject areas with the largest enrollment decreases were: (1) Dramatic Arts, -27%; (2) Computer Business Technology, -24%; (3) American Sign Language /Interpreting, -19%; (4) Health Information Technology, -19%; and (5) Computer & Information Science, -18%.

Persistence of First-Time Freshmen

Of the first-time freshmen who were enrolled at the college in fall 2003 (N=1,668), 51% persisted to fall 2004. This rate was about the same for fall 2003 (52% persisted from fall 2002 to fall 2003). The persistence rate of first-time freshman was also broken down by educational objective, gender, and ethnicity. Results showed that students who intended to transfer with an AA persisted at a higher rate (58%) than other groups. Male students (54%) had a slightly higher persistence rate than their female counterparts (49%). In addition, a higher proportion of Filipinos (68%) persisted from fall 2003 to fall 2004 than other ethnic groups.

In summary, analysis of census enrollment at Mesa College indicated a slight enrollment decrease (1.4%) and a 1.7% FTES decrease in fall 2004 as compared to fall 2003. In general, the fall-to-fall persistence rate of first-time freshmen remained almost unchanged (51%) compared with that of the previous year. However, Filipino freshmen had a much higher persistence rate (68%) than other ethnic groups.