Community Colleges, institutions of higher (1) _______ offering two-year programs of general study or technical or vocational training. Many (2) _______ receive the first two years (freshman and sophomore years) of postsecondary education at community colleges (3) _______ pursuing a bachelor's degree at a four-year institution. Community colleges (4) _______ a variety of programs and degrees, (5) _______ certificate programs that require less than two years of work in a specific (6) _______ of study; terminal associate degrees in professional (7) _______ technical programs; and associate degrees that may be transferred toward the completion of a bachelor’s (8) _______. Most community colleges are nonprofit, public institutions supported by state and local (9) _______, but there are also independent schools that operate (10) _______ a for-profit basis.
Two-year postsecondary institutions were first (11) _______ in the United States in the (12) _______ 20^th century. These schools were called junior colleges (13) _______ their main function was to offer only the beginning (14) _______ of general college study. Credits earned at junior colleges could be transferred to another institution (15) _______ students could complete their final years of college. Now called community colleges, these two-year institutions (16) _______ offer courses of general academic study to recent high school graduates. However, they (17) _______ try to serve the educational needs of a (18) _______ segment of the community, including older students and workers. Today, (19) _______ community colleges offer technical, vocational, preprofessional, and adult-education programs in addition to (20) _______ academic programs....