NORMAL - Richard Nimz was a pioneer in the development of community colleges in Illinois and is proud of how they have developed.

The education professor was involved in committee work that helped shape the Illinois Junior College Act of 1965, which created today's statewide system of public community colleges financed by state funds, local taxes and tuition.

At the time, he was a professor at Illinois State University, but the now-retired professor works part time at Illinois Central College in East Peoria.

"They do pretty well wherever they go. It's a sign we're doing a good job," Nimz said of community-college students.

The creation of Heartland Community College District 540 in 1990 completed the 48-college system, filling a hole in the center of the state.

"Community colleges are an American invention," said Heartland Community College President Jon Astroth.

While universities have a long history of education around the world, the United States has developed community colleges to provide locally based higher education as an extension of public primary and secondary schools.

Nearly 65 percent of students enrolled in higher education in Illinois are at community colleges, noted Allan Saaf, Heartland vice president for instruction.

Josh Beneventi, a mass communication student at Illinois Central College, represents an increasingly common community college student: the traditionally college-age student making the transition to a four-year university. He plans to transfer to ISU in the fall to further studies in mass communication and film.

Beneventi said community college is more like high school and helps with the transition to a larger university.

ICC student Cindy DeJarnette of Emden represents another type of student: the older, returning student retooling her education. The 1980 Lincoln Christian College graduate is studying sign language as part of a two-year program to enhance her education credentials.

"It was a bit scary," the 49-year-old mother of two teens said of returning to school. "But I was well-accepted by the class."

The oldest public community college in the United States is Joliet Junior College, founded in 1901 in a former township high school with only six students. The first Illinois legislation to create junior colleges - the "junior" was changed in most places to "community" in the 1970s - dates to the early 1930s.

Community colleges have some common traits. They generally have started small, with a handful of students in rented or borrowed space. Campuses later were built, and often satellite facilities were added in nearby towns.

Specialized centers for corporate and vocational training often have been added along with recreational, athletic and performing arts facilities, child-care centers, bookstores and dining centers. Those additions reflect two growing trends: the increasing need for continuing education in the changing marketplace, and the demand among students for the services and amenities usually seen at a four-year, residential college campus.

One thing a student won't see, however, is an on-campus residence hall. Florida and Illinois are the only states where community colleges are prohibited from providing student housing.

In its early days, Richland Community College in Decatur was housed in the former Millikin National Bank Building. "The library was actually in the bank's vault," said Lisa Gregory, college spokeswoman.

Likewise Heartland Community College started in 1990 with its offices in a strip mall and classes in church basements and leased classrooms. It later rented buildings in Towanda Plaza in Bloomington before opening its Raab Road campus in Normal in 2000.

Illinois Valley Community College opened in 1968 in space at LaSalle-Peru High School, and the first phase of its campus, in rural Oglesby on a bluff overlooking the Illinois River, opened in 1972.

College officials say they take cues from their communities when it comes to the facilities they develop. Richland, for example, is in the hometown of an agribusiness center, so it offers a permanent agricultural trade show site.

ICC added its Caterpillar Service Training Center in 2001.

Most Illinois community college districts also happen to contain four-year universities, and the relationship between them has evolved over the years, Nimz said. Initially, efforts concentrated on developing two-year programs that allowed students to transfer credits and complete bachelor's degrees, but the relationships have grown deeper.

For example, Astroth said Heartland is developing a program of "green studies" that will be compatible with a similar environmental-science program being developed at ISU.

Astroth points out community colleges still offer accessibility and affordability. While it may cost about $200 a credit hour at a university, community colleges are closer to $73 a credit hour, said ICC President John Erwin.

"Affordability is still a factor," he said.