Divorced with five children, Carolyn Brenner found herself, at 40, without income or job skills. 'My future looked grim,' she recalls. 'I had to have more education.'

After four years in the Army, Sgt. Rafael Martinez decided to leave the service and get a college degree. But the money he'd saved wouldn't cover the four years.

A single parent on welfare with a high-school-equivalency diploma, Roberta Fanning wanted college career training. But it had been 13 years since she was in a classroom. She needed remedial work before she could handle college-level courses.

For a second chance at education - and a brighter future - Brenner, Martinez and Fanning all turned to a uniquely American institution - the community college. They enrolled in southern Arizona's Maricopa County system, which serves nearly two million people in the Phoenix area.

Long the stepchild of higher education, community colleges have quietly grown into a vital member of America's academic family. Working in non-traditional ways, these institutions bring the economic and social benefits of continued education to millions of Americans.

They do this by admitting virtually anyone who wants to enter and offering courses that range from machine shop to organic chemistry to modern art. 'I doubt that any sector of education in this nation has had more notable achievement,' says former President Jimmy Carter.

He should know. Carter got his first taste of higher education at a two-year college. So did billionaire businessman H. Ross Perot, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Jeane J. Kirkpatrick, retired National Football League Commissioner Pete Rozelle and at least ten members of Congress.

The first junior colleges appeared around the turn of the century, offering a liberal-arts curriculum for freshmen and sophomores; these students then transferred to four-year senior colleges. Over the years, two-year institutions moved in new directions to meet the country's shifting social conditions - the baby boom, women returning to the work force, changing technology.

Today community, technical and junior colleges are the fastest-growing and largest single segment of American higher education. Some 5.7 million students are enrolled in credit courses at the nation's 1200-plus institutions; five million more take non-credit courses. As Paul A. Elsner, chancellor of Arizona's Maricopa system, notes, 'Community colleges have made convenient, affordable, quality education available to everyone.'

Like other community colleges, Maricopa's have given new meaning to the term 'college kids'. The average student is just over 30.
Elsner considers the community college a place where everyone can 'realize his or her full potential'. This implies three key roles for such schools.

1. 'We need to train people to earn a living,' Paul Elsner insists. 'For many, the community college offers their first opportunity to be successful at something.'

Having left school at 16 to work, Carolyn Brenner was washing dishes at restaurants and barely scraping by. 'I knew I had to have an education to get a good job,' she says, 'but I didn't have the money or time to get a bachelor's degree.'

Brenner went to Scottsdale Community College, part of the Maricopa system, and enrolled in a program that would train her in office work and accounting.

Brenner compiled an A-minus average and received an associate degree in Applied Sciences and General Business Management. After graduation, she landed a job with the Arizona Department of Education. 'I'll never go hungry again,' she says. 'I'm going to make it.'

2. 'We must maintain our liberal arts program,' Paula Elsner insists. 'In every class, there's a potential poet, physicist, chemical engineer, doctor -people who will transfer to four-year schools.'

When Rafael Martinez realized he could not afford a four-year university, his mother suggested the Maricopa system in which she had once studied English. The tuition was much less, and he could transfer after two years; that way his savings would stretch to pay for a four-year bachelor's degree.

At first Martinez, age 22, considered a teaching career, then professional counseling and medicine. So he ended up taking psychology, biology and chemistry classes.

Martinez breezed through two years, was a member of the Honor Society and transferred to Arizona State University, where he is now a junior. He hopes to go on to medical school and become a psychiatrist.

3. 'Not everyone is ready for college,' Paul Elsner notes, 'but most can be prepared.'

Roberta Fanning, 30, wasn't ready. She had dropped out of the eighth grade, and the long layoff showed up when she took placement tests at one of Maricopa's community colleges. Her first year was spent in remedial courses.

Because community colleges accept virtually everyone who applies, remedial courses are a staple. English and math are not the only skills that need shoring up. Special programs help uncertain, frightened newcomers like Fanning deal with the burdens of juggling a family, a job and studies.

Fanning went from remedial classes to courses on micro-economics and the humanities, maintaining a B-minus average while becoming involved in extra-curricular activities. Last May she received an associate degree in accounting. 'This is a new start for me,' she says. 'I want my kids to know that if I can complete college, they can too.'

Despite their emergence as a major force in American education, community colleges continue to suffer an image problem. Since they are inexpensive, serve large numbers of minority, low income and underprepared students, the perception persists that they are not very good.

Measuring the quality of education at community colleges is difficult, however, because many people do not go to get a degree. A better gauge, community-college administrators say, is how many students get jobs, advance in their careers and receive a chance at higher education. 'We take students where they want to go - we help them grow and change,' says Barbara Gartland, assistant to the provost at Cuyahoga Community College's Eastern Campus.

Fueling the debate is the philosophy at the heart of the community-college movement: admit anyone who wants to enter and meet the needs of all. Critics contend that this has led to overemphasis on technical and vocational programs and has increased social inequities by creating a two track system in higher education.

Maricopa's Elsner argues that the variety of enrolment is really a strength. It makes community colleges a 'highly democratiz-ing force in society,' he notes. 'They're giving millions of people a sense of pride - and an opportunity to realize their dreams.'