COLLEGE OF CANYONS PLANS WEEKEND CLASSES.

Byline: Mary Schubert Daily News Staff Writer

Registration is under way for weekend college, a new feature at College of the Canyons to make Saturday classes available to people who can't squeeze school into their weekday work schedule.

The fall semester will begin Aug. 21 at College of the Canyons, and the first Saturday sessions will be held Aug. 24. Students can register Monday through Thursday, 9 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., said Glenn Hisayasu, dean of student services.

There are 25 class sections offered, most of them academic courses. The Saturday classes carry the same credit value and transferability to four-year universities as their weekday counterparts, said campus spokeswoman Sue Bozman.

Among the course offerings are computer classes (Exploring the Internet and Windows 95), introductory sections of philosophy, American government and politics, psychology, literature and U.S. history.

Weekend students also can enroll in English composition and literature, economics, writing skills, art, music, conversational Spanish, speech fundamentals, child development, weight training and bowling.

``This is something that we've wanted to do for a long time,'' Hisayasu said. ``We have heard students have trouble accessing education because they work (during the week),'' he said.

``There are quite a few community colleges who have weekend (classes). So we got some information from them . . . about what kind of success and problems they've had,'' Hisayasu added.

Carter Doran, assistant superintendent and college vice president, said College of the Canyons will spend roughly $78,000 to keep the campus open a sixth day during the fall and spring semesters - a sum that includes maintenance, custodial and security costs but not teachers' salaries.

Overall fall enrollment is expected to top 13,500, and the college is offering 622 weekday class sections besides the Saturday lineup, Doran said. By the end of this month, campus officials will begin considering what course offerings will be on the weekend college spring schedule.

Additional state funding for the California Community College system, set aside by the Legislature and the governor in the 1996-97 budget, made it possible for College of the Canyons to offer the weekend session.

During the 1995-96 fiscal year, the state allotted $2.96 billion in funding, according to Kyle Orr, a spokesman for the state Chancellor's Office of the California Community Colleges.

This year, the state Legislature and governor approved a funding increase of $455 million for the 106 colleges in the system, which serves 1.4 million students across California, Orr said.

``We're trying to translate that growth money into the things students care about most, which is the availability of classes,'' Hisayasu said.

Faculty and administrators reviewed college schedules and, based in part on the weekday class offerings that filled up most often, decided what to offer during the inaugural Saturday run, Doran said.

Instructors are still being lined up to teach the courses. The library and cafeteria will be open Saturdays for the weekend students.

Doran said the whole motivation for weekend college is convenience, because many weekday workers can't fit school into their schedule any other way.

``We feel it's an extension of what we've been doing Monday through Friday. A lot of (residents) commute out of the Santa Clarita Valley for their jobs, and they may be too tired to take night classes,'' he said.