Originally, this two-year program was designed to accommodate the rising number of secondary school graduates who sought to further their education but, for one reason or another -- time, funds, family obligations or capability -- could not enroll in a standard four-year college or university.

Since those early years, community colleges have expanded their role beyond the two years of pre-baccalaureate study. Today, they prepare people for the workforce and offer a variety of services to local communities. They assist people to grow within their careers. Moreover, they offer basic literacy instruction for people who failed to fully learn rudimentary skills in primary and secondary education, as well as for new immigrants to the United States. Finally, they maintain courses for the personal interest of adults -- fostering the spirit of lifelong learning.

Indeed, the general principle underlying community college development has been a belief in individual mobility and achievement -- the belief that anyone seeking it should be given the opportunity to learn in order to advance professionally or personally in society, notwithstanding their prior educational accomplishments or their social or economic status. Because community colleges place few barriers to students' admission, and because their tuition fees are lower than those of four-year colleges and universities, they offer an open access, a readily available opportunity for one and all to find something of value.

By definition, the community college is an institution accredited to award an associate degree as its highest diploma. Typically granted after two years of collegiate-level instruction, it qualifies the recipient to enter a university at the junior, or third-year level, or to enter the workforce as a qualified employee in numerous occupational and paraprofessional fields. At present, there are 1,075 community colleges in the United States, enrolling 5.5 million students.

Their merit has been proven in many ways, not least in the manner in which they have accommodated periodic increases in the number of young people seeking entry to college. For example, in 1979 there were 4.3 million 17-year-olds in the United States, an increase of 50 percent in 15 years. More than 70 percent of these 17-year-olds had graduated high school and nearly half of them sought entry to college. This put enormous pressure on college admissions, one that the universities were not prepared to accommodate but which the community colleges could, and did, absorb. In 2000, nearly half of all those who began college for the first time did so at community colleges.

Invariably, community college students have diverse goals. One-third of them seek skills and certificates that qualify them for employment. Nearly 20 percent want to upgrade themselves in jobs they already hold, and 10 percent are attending strictly for their general personal interest. An additional one-third want to earn credits that would be transferred to a four-year school towards a bachelor's degree.

This is significant: Few other educational systems around the world allow students to transfer credits readily from one institution to another. Elsewhere as well, the functions that American community colleges provide are divided among different types of institutions. Japan, for example, has separate junior colleges, special training schools and technical colleges in its postsecondary mix. Only the U.S. community colleges provide pre-baccalaureate education, short-term vocational training, adult education, and job entry and professional upgrading in technology, health professions and other occupations, all under one roof.

This blend of purposes has given rise to a comprehensive institution in which two-thirds of the students attend part-time. Few of these colleges have residence halls; most students commute, enroll in one or two classes, then return to their jobs or other pursuits. The median age on campus is 25; in several states -- Arizona, California, Washington and Wyoming -- 8 percent or more of the population aged 18 or older is enrolled.

Well over a half-million associate degrees are awarded by community colleges annually, one-third of them for liberal arts or general studies. Most recipients intend to matriculate at senior institutions. The remainder go to students in occupational fields, one-fourth of them in the health professions -- nursing, dental assistance, medical lab technician training and related fields. Business professions -- including secretarial services, business administration, accounting and small-business management -- account for an additional 25 percent of the associate degree awards. Each year, community colleges also award certificates for programs of less than two years to more than 100,000 students who complete short-term programs in repair or protective services, transportation, computer and information sciences, precision production trades and real estate or construction licensing. More than half the colleges offer English as a Second Language (ESL) training for recent immigrants.

Most of the instructors or professors at community colleges have master of arts degrees as their highest achievement. Two-thirds of the faculty teach only one or two classes per term. Most part-timers are recent college graduates seeking full-time teaching positions, people with regular employment elsewhere or retirees wishing to maintain a tie to education. The community colleges are financed from a combination of sources, including state (44 percent) and local appropriations (below 20 percent) and student fees (21 percent), with most of the rest coming from the U.S. Government and auxiliary enterprises.

Because community colleges have never enjoyed sizable donations from alumni or from philanthropic foundations, they have very small endowments, as a rule. Accordingly, they have sought other ways of supplementing revenue. Most have established college foundations and have engaged in campaigns to raise funds from businesses and individuals in their local communities. But these have yet to yield more than minuscule proportions of the revenue they need. The colleges have gained some funds through sales and services, particularly by renting their facilities for local groups to use during off-hours. Some have leased land on a long-term basis to developers for construction of assisted-living facilities or shopping centers.

One lucrative alternative funding source has been contract training with industry and public agencies. By these arrangements, colleges provide staff and facilities to train local police, firefighters and county and municipal employees. Or they may contract to train employees of local industries in the latest workplace techniques; training sessions take place either on campus or at the industry's own facilities.

Positioned as they are between secondary school and baccalaureate education, the community colleges have developed collaborative ventures with institutions on either side. They attempt to smooth the road toward higher learning for graduates of secondary school lacking requisite funds or skills. They do so by meshing their programs with those of universities so that students taking community college courses can transfer credits without any shortfall, and by helping ensure that secondary school courses will prepare students for college. Community colleges also collaborate with public health services by hosting "health fairs" and other activities aimed at helping people gain access to health care. Furthermore, the two-year institutions train tutors to work in the elementary schools and help students learn basic reading, writing and arithmetic. And they help community welfare agencies by providing the most basic training in grooming and job skills for the chronically unemployed.

Evidence of the success of these efforts abounds, beginning with the rates at which two-year college alumni gain jobs or pass licensing exams, and the rates of transfer to four-year schools. Nearly all students graduating with a degree or certificate in the health professions gain employment. Alumni who must take state licensing exams in fields such as nursing, dental hygiene and respiration therapy pass those tests at rates significantly higher than those of students who have come through proprietary or commercial schools. Community college students who transfer to four-year institutions achieve baccalaureate degrees roughly equal to those students who entered those institutions as freshmen.

There are outcomes less measurable with pinpoint precision -- the degree to which communities' standards of living rise because of community colleges' health and welfare activities; the manner in which immigrants integrate themselves into society through language training and acculturation gained at community colleges; the means by which community college graduates become entrepreneurs through the courses they've taken in business law, small business accounting and employee relations; and the support community colleges render the local economy, in tandem with state economic development agencies, by offering to train workers so as to attract industry.

Most of the colleges are inexorably linked with international education. They enroll students from abroad, sponsor study-abroad programs for American students and conduct overseas study tours. Some maintain international business centers, training programs for local businesses wishing to engage in international trade, or contract training with companies based in other countries.

Overall, the United States has profited mightily from the flexibility embedded in the community college system, which meets such changing conditions as the demographic expansion and contraction. Today, when 85 to 90 percent of those entering four-year colleges are ages 19 or younger, only 61 percent of community college students are in that age range.

Then, too, community colleges are adapting to shifting needs in the workplace. During the first half of the 20th century, when a year or two of college was sufficient preparation to teach primary school students, two-year institutions were heavily involved in teacher training. In the post-World War II era, however, when prospective teachers were expected to have four-year baccalaureate degrees and even master of education certification, community college teacher training programs were dissolved. Yet recently, in response to America's general teacher shortage, many community colleges have reestablished teacher training programs -- this time, though, in cooperation with neighboring four-year baccalaureate-granting institutions. In these instances, community colleges provide the first two years of the full course.

Community colleges also are active in the health professions. They train a significant portion of licensed vocational nurses, x-ray technicians, medical records keepers and other support personnel. They also prepare students for employment as security guards, probation officers and other staff work in prisons. The two-year colleges also respond to workforce needs for a particular locale. A school in a resort area might have programs in restaurant and hotel management and in the culinary arts. And overall, across the spectrum of their activities, community colleges are part of the U.S. national effort to move people from welfare to work.

As the 21st century takes hold, community colleges do face a number of challenges and unanswered questions. First of all, there is an increasing need for these schools to create year-round operations. The U.S. population of 18-year-olds has risen dramatically, and will continue to do so -- from a low of 3.3 million in 1993 to an anticipated 4.3 million by the end of this decade. Two years ago, 64 percent of graduating high school students entered college. It is unlikely that university freshman classes will expand to meet the growing demand for placement. And despite suggestions from several quarters that distance education will save money and make campus expansion less necessary, distance education has not yet taken hold universally. As a result, community colleges will need to maximize the use of their facilities and may, in fact, become more of a force emphasizing and utilizing distance education as well.

There are other challenges -- such as finding new, creative sources of funds at a time when four-year universities are expanding their endowments exponentially, and when many new bids are surfacing for precious state and local resources. Also, more frequently, state agencies and accreditation institutions are seeking additional evidence of the overall value of community colleges -- in terms of some of the details noted above, such as degree of student transfers to four-year schools and achievements on licensing examinations and other tests.

At the same time, one of the looming questions is whether community colleges should be authorized to offer baccalaureate degrees. During the period of rapid expansion in the 1950s and 1960s, many two-year colleges began offering bachelor's degrees and thus joined the ranks of the senior institutions. That move subsided, but now, once again, is an issue. Several states have authorized the community colleges to begin bachelor's training in certain areas. What is likely to result, though, is collaboration between two-year and four-year schools, with the latter providing upper division courses on the community college campuses.

Through its lateral expansion in curriculum and joint ventures with community agencies, the two-year college has expanded its role from merely that of providing pre-baccalaureate education. By maintaining open admissions for all who wish to enter, it has become the lungs of the higher education system, expanding when the number of students seeking postsecondary study grows, reducing its enrollments of young people when the numbers decline.

With it all, the community college has maintained a unique role as a vital component of postsecondary education in America. And now that role is on the ascent.

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Arthur M. Cohen is professor of higher education at the University of California at Los Angeles, and director of the Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC) Clearinghouse for Community Colleges at UCLA. He is co-author, with F.B. Brawer, of The American Community College.

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