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 Los Angeles Community College District
Office of Institutional Research

ENROLLMENT BY EDUCATIONAL GOAL
FALL 1983 - FALL 2008
City East Harbor Mission Pierce South-
west		 Trade-Tech Valley West District
%		 District
Number
Vocational
1983
19.5
28.4
24.6
31.2
23.6
21.9
58.9
22.8
35.0
29.0
34,381
1990
29.8
29.7
25.4
30.8
26.2
25.9
62.5
28.9
35.9
33.1
36,379
2000
37.6
31.3
41.3
45.2
33.5
41.0
63.4
37.8
45.5
40.0
44,321
2005
36.3
34.5
34.3
35.8
24.8
39.2
52.1
29.2
36.9
35.0
39,824
2006
35.7
34.5
34.4
34.8
21.1
38.4
53.8
29.8
35.9
34.4
39,160
2007
32.9
31.7
33.0
31.7
21.0
34.1
51.1
27.9
30.8
31.7
38,854
2008
32.5
30.5
31.3
28.4
20.4
32.1
49.6
26.8
29.5
30.6
41,071
Transfer
1983
27.4
38.0
37.9
21.2
44.7
24.8
13.3
32.4
35.1
32.1
38,077
1990
37.7
39.5
39.6
18.8
46.3
16.3
12.6
35.1
34.1
33.5
37,318
2000
24.6
25.5
35.6
28.0
35.4
30.4
18.8
29.8
35.8
28.6
31,687
2005
24.6
30.0
30.7
28.4
42.5
30.2
16.1
38.8
33.2
31.0
35,345
2006
25.3
30.5
30.2
28.2
45.0
29.2
16.1
37.8
31.8
31.3
35,951
2007
27.5
33.7
32.8
31.3
45.4
32.9
18.4
37.8
35.1
33.6
40,460
2008
29.3
34.3
32.6
33.4
46.4
33.9
18.0
38.6
35.3
34.3
46,191
General Education
1983
4.4
9.4
8.5
6.9
8.3
8.9
9.0
7.4
7.1
7.7
9,135
1990
8.6
9.6
11.2
9.0
9.4
5.5
8.1
9.9
11.6
9.3
10,348
2000
11.1
7.3
13.5
10.3
12.7
10.8
9.8
11.9
13.2
10.8
11,998
2005
11.7
9.6
10.3
9.7
9.7
11.8
9.3
12.7
11.4
10.6
12,087
2006
11.6
9.7
10.0
9.5
10.2
11.9
9.9
13.4
13.3
11.0
12,546
2007
11.9
9.3
10.8
9.7
10.1
12.0
10.4
12.8
13.6
11.0
13,280
2008
12.0
10.1
10.9
8.7
9.9
11.2
10.1
12.3
13.2
10.9
14,616
Transitional
1990
5.9
3.8
1.5
3.9
1.5
2.8
2.3
2.0
2.2
2.9
3,195
2000
13.3
4.3
7.2
11.3
4.6
7.3
8.2
6.6
7.5
7.4
8,167
2005
12.7
5.5
6.6
7.5
4.6
6.5
8.7
4.1
5.0
6.8
7,732
2006
12.5
5.3
7.7
6.8
5.1
7.6
7.6
4.7
5.4
6.9
7,844
2007
12.3
6.1
6.6
7.5
5.7
7.6
7.1
5.3
6.3
7.1
8,890
2008
11.1
5.9
8.4
10.0
6.0
9.2
7.8
5.9
8.0
7.6
10,240
Undecided
1990
18.0
17.4
22.4
37.5
16.6
49.5
14.4
24.0
16.2
21.2
23,451
2000
14.7
18.1
20.3
17.5
16.9
13.8
17.0
17.2
20.5
17.2
19,098
2005
14.7
20.4
18.1
18.6
18.4
12.3
13.8
15.2
13.5
16.6
18,897
2006
14.9
20.0
17.8
20.7
18.6
12.8
12.6
14.3
13.6
16.4
18,847
2007
15.3
19.3
16.9
19.8
17.9
13.4
13.1
16.2
14.1
16.6
20,093
2008
15.1
19.2
16.8
19.6
17.4
13.6
14.5
16.5
14.0
16.6
22,397

See the Excel spreadsheet version of this file Excel icon

Last Update: 11/18/2008

NOTE: The Major Goal Categories tallied above are inclusive of the following responses to the goal question on the Application for Admission:
Vocational includes:
 Preparing New Career (Old Category = Job Skills); Advance in Job/Career; Discover Career Goals; Maintain License, Vocational Degree without Transfer; and Vocational Certificate without Transfer.
Transfer includes:
 Transfer with Degree and Transfer without Degree.
General Education includes:
 Associate Degree without Transfer and Personal Enrichment.
Transitional includes:
 Improve Basic Skills and Complete High School Diploma.

Of all the tables and figures in the Digest, this set should be read with the greatest care, since selection of an educational goal is difficult for many entering students. These goals were stated only at the beginning of the students’ enrollment in college, and do not represent shifts in goals that may occur later in their college career. In past years, a significant number of incoming students were always unwilling or unable to mark a particular goal on the directory card, which until 1990 was the source of goal data. The old goals were listed in the schedule, each with a number that would be filled in the goal box on the directory card. Two of the eight goals listed were Undecided and a nebulous "Other". The limited list, and the cumbersome process of responding to it, resulted in a non-response rate of as high as 73% at some colleges. The new list, introduced in Fall 1990, was developed in accordance with the needs of the statewide Management Information System (MIS) for California Community Colleges. It is printed directly on the new student application. There are twelve specific goals, plus one "Undecided", each with a response checkoff box. The "transitional" goal categories were not on the old application in any form, and thus can not be tabulated before 1990.

A disjuncture in the year-to-year tracking emerges in a data gap between 1989, the last year of the old questionnaire, and 1992, when the sample of students responding to the new questions has become large enough to furnish results that may be safely applied to the entire student body. The gap is bridged by matching old categories onto the new ones that most resemble them, adding the wholly new ones from 1990 on, and obtaining the best estimates using the small samples of 1990 and 1991 to calculate percentages that are listed and applied to the total enrollment figures. Estimates in the gap are shown by italicized percentages in the tables and broken lines in the chart.

Graph depicting Los Angeles Community College District enrollment by educational goal from fall 1983 to fall 2003