Community colleges on average get 60 percent of their funding from state and local sources. As a result, if states are having trouble, community college funding could dwindle, Kent said.

"It's a perfect storm in a negative sense," she said.

Virginia's General Assembly allocated $396.5 million for the state's community college system in the 2009 fiscal year, up just 2 percent from $387.2 million in the current fiscal year. It allocated $24.4 million for financial aid for community college students. But Gov. Timothy M. Kaine this week warned legislators that worsening state finances require deep budget cuts by early October — including to areas traditionally off-limits.

In Texas, state funding hasn't kept up with enrollment growth, Johnson said. Community colleges in Texas receive less than 30 percent of their funding from the state, down from 60 percent in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Central Oregon Community College in Bend is seeing a 31 percent enrollment increase, but officials expect that to moderate, saying they are running out of classroom space and faculty to meet capacity.

Because two-year schools are intended to be open-access institutions, it's anathema to turn students away. But "if there's not enough faculty, not enough courses, we have a de facto enrollment cap," Kent said.

Sarah Turcotte, of Gloucester, Va., says she's attending RCC while many of her friends are leaving or have left for college. While she admits feeling a bit left out, she hopes to join a couple of them at the University of Virginia as a transfer student in a couple years if she keeps her grades up.

"The school that I want to go to is a state school, but it's $17,000 a semester" for tuition and fees and housing and dining, she said, compared with $800 for RCC, and living at her parents' home.

A study released Wednesday by educational loan provider Sallie Mae shows that many people fail to consider post-college income in determining how to pay for school, but Turcotte is already looking ahead to after graduation, when many people are saddled with repaying student loans.

"With the economy the way it is, college grads are finding a hard time finding jobs, so it's best to keep my education costs to a minimum," she said.