SAN DIEGO -- Local community colleges are seeing a sudden increase in enrollment due to factors like the economy and large graduation classes.

Caroline Best is trying her best to remain calm. She needs to take general education classes, but at Grossmont College there is either a waiting list or it is standing room only.

"I've been in classes where they've run out of desks. You're standing with your notebook. How you gonna balance that? I don't know, we'll see," said Best.

"With thousands of students trying to get into classes, it's just crazy," said Edwin Cruz, a student at Grossmont Community College which began the fall semester Monday.

Because of state budget cuts, Grossmont had to cut 20 percent of its classes and has lost $10 million funding over the last couple of years. However, enrollment is up two percent.

Grossmont isn't alone, as the San Diego Community College District representing, City, Mesa and Miramar colleges -- which also started classes Monday -- have lost $30 million in funding over the last two years and have more than 20,000 students on wait lists for classes.

"People wanting re-training, people that are unemployed or under-employed or people who go shut out of the state university system … we definitely have more demand than we've ever seen," said Dr. Sunny Cooke, Grossmont College president.

Grossmont has a 90 to 95 percent capacity in each class and expects an enrollment of just over 19,000 students.