'96 GRADUATES LOOK BEYOND STATE SYSTEM FOR COLLEGE DEGREES : RISING COSTS CITED IN HART SURVEY.

Byline: Mary Schubert Daily News Staff Writer

Nearly three-fourths of the Class of 1996 planned to attend college or enroll in vocational programs, and their interest in California state universities was waning, district officials reported Wednesday.

The class was a big one. In fact, the 1,631 graduates from the William S. Hart Union High School District were the most ever in its 51-year history, according to a report by Gary Wexler, the school district's director of curriculum.

These students, born at the tail end of the 1970s, appeared evenly split on attending local public universities and either private or out-of-state colleges - a trend local administrators attribute to escalating fees and diminishing selection of classes in state-supported schools.

In a poll of 1,336 students graduating from Canyon, Hart and Saugus high schools, along with an alternative school and a continuation school, a combined 213 students said they planned to attend a University of California school or a California State University campus.

That same number - 213 - said they would attend either a four-year private school or an out-of-state public university or college.

Wexler said several factors have contributed to a trend among district graduates, born of their concern over college expenses.

``The state of California (has been) raising its fees, and at the same time, it seemed to be cutting back on its classes and making it harder for students to get through (college) in four years,'' Wexler said.

``Back about 10 years ago, we would have about 13 or 14 percent attend the CSU,'' Wexler said. This year's survey showed just 9 percent of the students would enroll in the Cal State system after high school.

``As the tuition was going up in the CSU system, it was starting to look more economical for students to go to either a private school or a public, out-of-state college,'' Wexler said.

``There (is) this fear among students that they would have to stay in college longer than they wanted to,'' he said.

Laurence Strauss, principal of Hart High School, drew similar conclusions from the survey findings, adding that a youthful desire to leave home may have motivated some of the college choices outside California.

``Students are finding that they can get all their courses easier,'' Strauss said, ``The schools they're attending out of state, and the private schools, aren't as impacted as the state universities,'' he said.

``If they can graduate in four years rather than the five that many have to go in the state (universities), they're saving a whole year's tuition and living expenses,'' Strauss said.

Of district grads surveyed, 87 said they planned to attend a University of California school - where fall semester fees are $3,956 - while 126 said they would enroll at a California State University campus, where full-time students pay $913 per semester.

By contrast, nearly half of the district students polled opted to go the affordable route - 712 saying they would start their education at a community college, where students pay $13 a unit.

Meanwhile, in another survey of 614 district students who took the Scholastic Assessment Test, 111 said they planned to major in health-related subjects.

In this computer age, the number of graduating seniors who said they wanted to major in that subject were far down on the list, behind social sciences and history, business and commerce, engineering, education, biological sciences, and visual and performing arts.

Wexler said the district offers several courses in its Regional Occupational Program related to health careers, and he theorized that those courses had influenced many students' decisions about pursuing that job track.

The post-high-school plans of others surveyed included 69 students who said they would enter the work force full time, 45 who wanted to take vocational or technical courses and 38 who planned to join the military.

Districtwide, the Class of 1996 received scholarships and grants totaling more than $3.4 million, Wexler noted.

Many of the seniors received equivalency certificates. Eighty of the graduating seniors took the General Education Development test, and 11 others took the California High School Proficiency Exam.