Ours is an era of great social change and personal uncertainty about what the future holds. The community college is not exempt from that change and uncertainty; in fact, it has helped transform the college presidency into a calling of high expectations, broad responsibility, and limitless challenges. As community colleges continue to grow larger and their functions increase in number and diversity, society turns more and more often to the community college for solutions to problems. Expectations for community college presidents have grown more complex, demanding, and even contradictory. Aptly described by a scholar and former community college president as "leaders on the edge" (Vaughan, 1989, p. 3), community college presidents are increasingly called upon by constituents to find solutions to unprecedented social problems, often through the application of untested strategies-and to do so with limited resources. As one rural community college president has observed, presidents are expected to make a dollar' s worth of difference with a dime' s worth of resources.Yet the challenges facing today' s community college president are not limited to the perennial problem of inadequate resources. Few other roles in American society make comparable day-to-day demands on an individual. A community college president is not simply a problem-solver. The president is also expected to meet a governing board' s need for impartial and expert counsel; inspire faculty and staff in matters pertaining to curriculum and instruction; serve as a model of ethical behavior; and provide, as conditions warrant, vision for the entire community.Some might look at the circumstances of community college presidents and focus on how remarkably few resources and tools they possess to satisfy NEW DIRECTIONS FOR COMMUNITY COLLEGES, no. 98, Summer 1997 © Jossey-Bass Publishers 13

Our understanding of the funding of public junior colleges prior to 1940 has been strongly influenced by the ideology of current scholars. A close reading of the historical record reveals that early junior colleges were rarely subsidized by states. Rather, their costs were met by approximately equal contributions of local tax revenue and unaided tuition, in an era that can best be characterized as one of high tuition and low aid.

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