College History

Los Angeles Mission College is located on 22 acres in the northeast San Fernando Valley, in the city of Sylmar and close to the city of San Fernando. It was established in 1975 and for the first sixteen years offered classes in scattered storefronts and leased facilities throughout the city. In 1991, the new permanent campus was completed and the college experienced a surge in enrollments and a resulting higher visibility in the community. From humble storefront beginnings in 1975 to today’s modern campus, the college has opened the doors to higher education for three generations of students.

The college provides lower-division general education, AA and AS degree programs, occupational education, occupational certificates, transfer education, developmental education, counseling, and community services. Over the past 25 years, the college has operated numerous workforce development programs, empowered immigrants through language and citizenship programs, enabled thousands to transition through the continuum of education linking high school, college, and the world of work, and graduated today’s community leaders in business and civic affairs.

During its 25-year existence, over 100,000 students have chosen to pursue their education at the college. More and more students, with ever-changing needs, pursue knowledge and personal growth through the college’s many responsive educational programs. The college experiments with the latest technology to bring students access to skills and knowledge they need for success. It encourages young people to pursue their potential with classes taught in area high schools for high school students. It supports growth programs with numerous community events and business seminars, promotes life-long learning when classes are offered in community locations, and advocates social and economic development in the community through dynamic partnerships with local business and civic organizations.

Since the last self-study, the college has completed the construction of its new Library and Learning Resource Center and has broken ground for a new Collaborative Studies Building in December of 2000. It has recently completed a facilities needs assessment that will lead to a comprehensive facilities plan for the eventual completion of the campus.

College Service Area

The college is one of nine in the Los Angeles Community College District (LACCD). The district encompasses 882 square miles serving over 100,000 students from a population base of nearly 5 million district residents located in the City of Los Angeles and several surrounding communities and unincorporated areas.

A study of the college’s enrollment pattern found that the college's enrollments were concentrated in a primary service area encompassing eight zipcode areas from which nearly 75 percent of the college enrollment is drawn. This currently encompasses nearly 336,000 residents, but it is expected to increase to 350,000 in the next five years (2005) and to 360,000 by 2010. Although the college serves a definite community, it is also able to attract a large proportion of its students from more geographically distant areas. This is due to the strength of some of its successful and innovative programs (e.g., culinary arts, child development, addiction studies, paralegal, and multimedia studies) and its reputation for excellence in teaching. (Geographic maps illustrating enrollment density by zip code area can be found at: (http://www.lamission.edu/pearlmy/data_and_information.htm.)

The socioeconomic characteristics of the college's primary service area are derived from the 1990 census, as updated by the California State Department of Finance. The ethnic distribution in 2000 is 56.6 percent Hispanic, 4.6 percent African-American, 7.3 percent Asian, and 31.5 percent White. About 17.2 percent of the service area population reported limited or no English language proficiency. This was slightly below the percentage for all LACCD service areas (19.8 percent) and higher than that of Los Angeles County (16.0 percent). In addition, 50.5 percent of the LAMC service area population speak English at home. This figure compares favorably to the LACCD (48.1 percent) but is lower than that of Los Angeles County (54.2 percent). Educational attainment is skewed toward lower levels of educational completion: 19.2 percent of the population over age 18 have less than a ninth grade education compared to 15.7 percent for LA County, and 11.0 percent have a college degree compared to 14.6 percent for LA County. (Educational attainment in the primary service area is also slightly lower when compared to that in the LACCD.) The incidence of poverty in the primary service area (12.0 percent) is lower than that of the LACCD (17.9 percent) and Los Angeles County (15.1 percent). Finally, the foreign-born immigrant population in the primary service area is somewhat higher (32.9 percent) than that of the LACCD (38.3 percent), but very close to that for Los Angeles County (32.8 percent).

Enrollment and Student Characteristics

The following discussion is based upon historical data on selected student and employee characteristics. The complete data tables and charts can be accessed on the LAMC Website.

Enrollment

Over the period fall 1985 to fall 1995, college enrollment averaged 4,976 students. However, upon moving to the new campus facility in 1991, enrollment increased to 7,272. Peak enrollment in the period fall 1991 to fall 1999 was 7,423 in fall 1992 with the trough occurring in fall 1995 with 5,502 students. In fall 1999, enrollment was 6,824. Trends in full-time equivalent students (FTES) over this period displayed a similar pattern. The college has been steadily increasing both headcount enrollment and FTES over the period fall 1995 to fall 1999, attaining average annual growth rates of 6.0 percent in enrollment and 15.5 percent in FTES. Currently the college is operating at nearly full capacity in terms of its utilization of on-campus facilities, with average class size nearly equal to room seating capacity. o further expand enrollment, the college has begun to offer classes in off-campus facilities (local high schools and public facilities) and via the Internet.

Student Characteristics

Insights into the changes in the student population since fall 1995 can be gained by examining current and historical data on several key student characteristics. The appendix to this section displays historical data and charts on the distribution of student gender, age, ethnicity, home language, enrollment by time of day, educational attainment, educational goal, unit load, grades received, and retention. Other student information is taken from surveys and research reports. The information is divided into four parts: Student Demographics, Enrollment Characteristics, Economic Resources, and Student Outcomes.

Student Demographics

The college has maintained a high percentage of female enrollment. Over the period fall 1995 to fall 1999, female enrollment averaged 65.1 percent of total student enrollment. The age distribution of the college population has remained fairly constant. The percentage of students under age 20 increased from 15.9 percent in fall 1995 to 21.3 percent in fall 1999, while the percentage of students in the 20 to 24, 25 to 34, and 35 and over age groups declined slightly.

The ethnic composition of the student population has also shifted. Hispanic enrollment proportion increased from 65.4 percent in fall 1995 to 69.5 percent in fall 1999 while the percentage of other ethnic groups declined slightly. The distribution of home language has changed modestly.

In fall 1995, 63.0 percent of students reported English as the language spoken at home, with Spanish being the second most predominant at 30.1 percent. By fall 1999, English had declined to 60.7 percent, and Spanish had increased to 33.0 percent. Other language groups changed imperceptibly over this period.

Student enrollment by time of day has shifted to a higher proportion of students attending in both the day and the evening. In fall 1995, 24.6 percent of students were both day and evening students. This proportion had increased to 34.3 percent by fall 1999. Evening only enrollment declined from 46.3 percent in fall 1995 to 37.8 percent in fall 1999 as did day only enrollment (29.1 percent to 27.8 percent).

The student population has also been decreasingly composed of high school graduates. High school graduates were 63.6 percent of the student population in fall 1995 and only 59.2 percent in fall 1999. Somewhat related to the increase in the 18-20 age group is the increase in the proportion of students concurrently enrolled in high school. The proportion of students in this group has increased from 2.1 percent in fall 1995 to 5.5 percent in fall 1999. Also, the percentage of students holding baccalaureate degrees increased modestly from 2.8 percent in fall 1995 to 3.9 percent in fall 1999.

Mission College students have been increasingly focused on vocationally related educational goals, such as the pursuit of a vocational degree or certificate, or preparing for a new career. The proportion of students declaring vocationally related educational goals increased from 36.8 percent in fall 1995 to 41.0 percent in fall 1999. The proportion of students declaring general education and transitional education (such as improving basic skills) has increased over this period from 7.3 percent to 8.5 percent and from 5.9 percent to 8.6 percent, respectively. Moreover, the proportion of students declaring transfer as a goal has only increased slightly from 24.0 percent in fall 1995 to 24.9 percent in fall 1999. The percentage of students who have not decided an educational goal has declined significantly from 26.0 percent to 17.1 percent over this period.

A small change in the distribution of student unit load has occurred. The percentage of students in the 6 to 11.5 unit group decreased from 38.7 percent in fall 1995 to 36.3 percent in fall 1999, and the proportion in the 12 unit group increased from 24.8 percent to 25.3 percent over the same time period.

Student Outcomes

The aggregate grade distribution of Mission College students has shifted slightly. The percentage of "A" grades increased from 23.0 percent in fall 1995 to 25.1 percent in fall 1999 while the percentage of "F" grades declined from 7.3 percent to 6.1 percent over this period. Also, the percentage of W (withdraw) notations increased slightly from 17.0 percent to 18.6 percent in this time frame.

College retention and success rates have declined slightly. Retention decreased from 82.5 percent to 81.3 percent over the period fall 1995 to fall 1999. Similarly, success decreased from 66.4 percent to 64.6 percent over this same period.

Full year (fall and spring) transfers to California public institutions have declined noticeably from 181 in 1995-96 to 123 in 1998-99. The traditional transfer rate measure, which divides transfers by college enrollment, is approximately 3 percent for 1998-99. (The transfer rate adjusted for only those students declaring a transfer goal is about 7 percent.) The college’s completion rate, as reported on IPEDS/GRS (Integrated Postsecondary Educational Data System-Graduation Rate Survey) was 25 percent for the fall 1996 cohort.

The college awarded an increased number of associate degrees and certificates over the 1995-96 to 1998-99 academic years: associate degrees increased from 232 to 265 while certificates increased from 315 to 361.

Economic Resources

LAMC students also typically devote a significant amount of time to employment while they are attending the college. Approximately 41.6 percent of students work 35 or more hours per week; another 21.5 percent work between 21 and 34 hours per week. The income position of students is also limited, with 25 percent reporting an annual household income of $15,000 or less. Another indicator of limited financial resources is the receipt of a waiver of registration fees or financial aid. In fall 1999, approximately 13 percent of all enrolled students received some type of financial assistance, including fee waiver.

Faculty and Staff Composition and Trends

The instructional staffing pattern at LAMC has shifted toward a higher percentage of regular faculty since fall 1995. There were 55.6 regular full-time equivalent faculty (FTEF) instructional faculty in fall 1999 as compared with 47.5 in fall 1995. Similarly, hourly instructional FTEF increased from 68.8 in fall 1995 to 79.3 in fall 1995. Hourly faculty comprised 40.8 percent of total faculty in fall 1995; this figure increased to 58.8 percent in fall 1999.

The total number of college employees (excluding student employees) was 394 in January 2000. Females made up 49.0 percent of all college employees and total minority representation (consisting of Asian, Black, Native American, and Hispanic groups) was 39.1 percent of college employees.

Minorities comprised 62.5 percent of the college administration and 60.0 percent of classified staff, but only 31.5 percent of regular faculty.

On a headcount basis, the total faculty at LAMC in January 2000 consisted of 89 regular faculty and 187 hourly (including non-teaching faculty). The non-instructional staff included 8 in administration, 13 in classified management or professional/non-faculty, 106 in secretarial/clerical, 19 in skilled crafts, and 35 in technical/paraprofessional. The tables at the end of this section show the gender and ethnic distributions in these employee groups.

The following charts present a current (fall 1999) profile of key student and employee characteristics.

Organization Charts

Functional Maps