OFFICIALS WEIGH IMPROVEMENTS FOR AREA COLLEGE.

Byline: Mary Schubert Daily News Staff Writer

When College of the Canyons opened a generation ago, it served a Santa Clarita Valley that had 70,000 residents. In the years since, the population has boomed and the campus' role in the valley has shifted.

This week, the Santa Clarita City Council and the Santa Clarita Community College District board of trustees met to discuss how the campus can continue to serve the region's residents and business community amid a forecast for continued growth.

Projections from the state chancellor's office are that COC will have 20,000 students enrolled by the year 2010, college President Dianne Van Hook told the board.

That's more than triple the current enrollment of 6,650 - and the college will need several more buildings and facilities in the next 13 years to keep up with that growth pace to best serve its growing ranks of students.

This month, College of the Canyons students returned from winter break to a pair of newly opened campus buildings - a $7.2 million library and an $8.2 million fine and applied arts building. The state paid for both facilities.

Along with preparations for the expected enrollment surge, COC - like other two-year colleges - increasingly is used by laid-off workers training for a new skill that could land them a job in another field.

Business and industry in the Santa Clarita Valley look to the college to offer courses its employees can take to keep their skills current.

``We just got two new buildings, but we definitely need more,'' said Bruce Fortine, vice president of the board of trustees. ``Unfortunately, it really depends on whether the state has bond money or not. There are (106) community colleges, and we all participate in that pool of money,'' he said.

Fortine said the college should have a technology building and a performing arts center on its 153-acre campus. ``A lot of colleges are completely built, and we're not,'' he said.

In fact, half of COC's acreage is undeveloped land, Fortine said.

These days, recent high school graduates aren't the only people signing up for classes.

The average age of the student body is about 28, he said. Many women have been returning to COC - or starting college for the first time - after their children are grown. Female students account for more than half of those enrolled, Fortine said.

``We have a lot of people who are advancing on their jobs, or their jobs are being phased out, and they need retraining,'' he added.

As residential developers continue to build - the proposed Newhall Ranch project alone would add 25,000 homes - college officials know that current ballooning enrollments in local elementary, junior high and high schools will eventually reach the college level.

In a report this week to the board of trustees, Van Hook said several college projects haven't lined up state funding, including additions to the administration building, cafeteria and student center. Also, college officials want to create partnerships to develop some of COC's vacant land in a way that would be beneficial to both sides - such as a golf course driving range or a hotel.

Michael Haviland, the city's marketing and economic development manager, said College of the Canyons is a prime selling point when residents and businesses consider moving to the Santa Clarita Valley. Having a strong college in the community is a factor when deciding whether to choose the valley over somewhere else.

``Any time you have a community that has a good school system and a good college, those are all very significant pluses to get someone to relocate to a city,'' Haviland said.

``You're providing the kind of education infrastructure in the community that can upgrade (businesses') employees or provide entry-level employees into the job market,'' he said.