COLLEGE OF CANYONS TO EXPAND CLASSES.

Byline: Mary Schubert Daily News Staff Writer

Thanks to increases in state funding, College of the Canyons will offer about 140 additional classes in its spring semester, starting Jan. 21.

``For several years, a ceiling on funding prevented us from providing enough classes to serve everyone in the Santa Clarita Valley who wanted to attend,'' said Carter Doran, assistant superintendent at College of the Canyons.

``With the additional funding this year, we are adding new sections of the most popular classes as quickly as they fill up,'' he said.

``We've added classes six days a week - whatever time slots were the most in demand,'' added Kathleen Alfano, dean of professional programs and academic computing.

``We keep tabulations in our computer on the number of requests for classes,'' Doran said. ``That gave us our preliminary data of what students wanted and couldn't get.''

During the 1995-96 school year, enrollment was capped at the equivalent of 4,144 full-time students, Doran said. This year, the state-imposed limit is 4,640. Depending on the number of classes each takes, two or more part-time students may be the equivalent of one carrying a full-time course load of 15 or more units per semester.

As of last Wednesday, 4,898 people had registered for classes, but the college was still under its full-time equivalency limit, college spokeswoman Sue Bozman said.

Doran said the state will not reimburse a community college for education of more students than its limit.

``Last year, for the first time in a long time, the state seemed to have some funds, and Gov. Wilson was quite generous with education,'' Doran said. ``He reduced class sizes in elementary schools, and he allowed community colleges to grow.''

For several years, Doran said, community colleges had been receiving cost-of-living adjustments but no funds for growth.

``We traditionally have been turning away some students, so we're delighted to say we're adding them,'' Doran said.

The campus has two new buildings this semester to go with the wider class selection, Doran noted. The three-story Media and Fine Arts building has classrooms for journalism, radio and television, art and computer-assisted drafting, he said. The new campus library opened last month.

Another change at the college will be the addition in the spring schedule of many classes on Friday evenings and Saturdays, primarily for the benefit of employed adults who find weekday offerings inconvenient, said Carole Long, assistant dean of instruction.

In some of the courses, lectures will be on Friday evening and lab work on Saturday. In the fall semester, 500 people signed up for Saturday classes, and administrators expect double that number to choose the weekend option in the spring term.