Projecting the future for California community colleges involves projecting the future for the state and for the nation in general. According to population projections, the absolute number of 18-year-olds in the U.S. will rise to 4 million in 2004 up from 3.3 million in 1992. The tuition differential between California's community colleges and the state's other post-secondary institutions will bring a higher proportion of these students to the colleges, where liberal arts credits can be obtained at bargain prices. With respect to faculty, the state's full-time community college faculty salaries are high, at an average of $48,300 per year. If there are to be salary increases, then faculty work will be reorganized, with professors at the apex of a pyramid of paraprofessionals. While the curriculum and governance structures can be expected to remain stable, the financial contributions that students make to their education will probably double from the current 12%. With respect to instruction, budgetary limitations will make year-round schools a priority, and while distance learning has been hailed as a panacea, diverting half a million students to technological instruction will not solve cash management problems and risks educational segregation. Better approaches would include more peer tutoring, on-campus computer-assisted instruction, and larger classes. The future for the community colleges of California is assured and the built-in inertia of educational systems would suggest that there will be no major shifts in funding, staffing, clientele, or instructional forms. (Includes 16 tables of trends and indicators.) (KP)