Extra Credit on Campus Win

The notion that a four-year state university is this county’s greatest single need became clear for me two years ago, when I first saw a startling fact in a series we wrote on family life in Ventura County.

Here, in one of the most affluent counties in the state, a county where many residents settle primarily because of the decent public school system, the statistics showed that only 11.3% of our high school graduates went on to immediately enroll in California’s public and private four-year universities.

In a way, that was a tribute to another remarkable fact about this county. It’s not only the adult population that loves living here. Even the younger members of our society would rather stay here than escape from home as fast as possible.

For many Ventura County residents, this desire to never leave the county has come with a steep price tag over the years. It has meant two years in a junior college close to home instead of four at an affordable state college somewhere else.

But now we have edged another step closer to the day when that will change. With state college officials’ historic vote this month to proceed with plans for a Cal State campus in Ventura County, our children are nearing the time when they can have their cake and eat it, too.

And this is good news for everybody here.

The presence of a Cal State campus in the area is going to pay off for all of us in the decades ahead. It will mean a better-educated local work force. And that will mean new industries and more jobs. And that, in turn, will mean a healthier economy.

The nice thing is that we can all take some credit for the progress that has been made so far. From the beginning, this county was told it had to show its support for a state university. And our residents rose to the challenge.

I was especially proud that one of the topics of conversation at the crucial meeting in Long Beach last week was a recent Sunday article by Times staff writer Fred Alvarez on the eve of the vote detailing once again the county’s unique situation.

Noting that Ventura County has the state’s sixth-highest family income levels, Alvarez reported that it nonetheless ranks in the last third of the state’s 58 counties when it comes to the number of students entering four-year colleges.

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Beyond that, he added a human touch with the testimony of local leaders such as Oxnard Harbor Commissioner Jess Herrera, who spoke of how he still wishes he could upgrade the junior college degree he received from Moorpark College 20 years ago.

“That is still my dream,” Herrera said.

State Sen. Jack O’Connell, one of the many leaders in the fight for a Cal State campus, was among those at the Long Beach meeting citing the Times story as one more reason the state should give this county what it has long deserved.

Oxnard Mayor Manuel Lopez, also on hand to lobby for the new state college, pressed home the same point.

“I can’t believe this,” he said, referring to the county’s record of sending its children on to four-year schools. “This is really pathetic.”

In the end, it was a day of triumph for Ventura County. There will be more battles in the years ahead. But this is one of those times we can all feel good that something important is happening that involved us all.

Ventura County was challenged to show it cared enough to support a state university here. And the people of this county came through when the chips were down.