Increasing the proportion of Americans whose levels of educational attainment extend beyond a high school diploma is a broad national priority. Attaining the ambitious goals that have been articulated will require the additional education of traditional-age students entering college directly from the K-12 system, as well as reengaging millions of young adults and experienced workers. Community colleges, which educate nearly half of all undergraduates, are committed to being a part of the solution. The role of community colleges in helping people and the government respond to the current economic crisis and meeting widely articulated goals for college completion has resulted in an unprecedented amount of attention on the colleges, accompanied by heightened expectations. However, the thesis of this brief is that significantly increasing outputs from community colleges can be achieved only with increased resources. Compared to other sectors, community colleges have not received a fair share of funding in light of their role in the country's higher education system. Improvements in the delivery of community college education cannot overcome the stark reality of inadequate funding. In this brief, the author compares the funding of community colleges to that of other sectors of higher education, to set into context the challenges community colleges face as well as to highlight the policy priorities implicit in addressing funding inequities. He also describes the magnitude of inequities between institution types and some consequences of the inequities. (Contains 3 figures, 2 tables and 4 notes.)