In 1990, a telephone survey was conducted of health services offered by California's community colleges. Statewide, 42 of the 71 districts in California levied a health service fee, 18 districts offered services without charge, and 11 offered no service. Districts operating programs collected an average of $15.81 in student fees per credit average daily attendance (ADA), while expending $19.42 per ADA per year. Of the 19 colleges surveyed, 13 provided health services to about one-third of their students during the year. The level of services ranged from zero to extensive, with the major determinant being the presence of an hourly physician on staff. Typical staffing consisted of 10 physician hours per month, 1.5 full-time equivalent (FTE) registered nurse, and 1.1 FTE clerical support staff. Barriers to health service implementation included lack of facilities, financial constraints, and difficulty in informing students about available services. Key issues to be addressed at the statewide level included establishing an overall student activity fee to fund student services, developing contingency plans for dealing with unexpected epidemics, and setting minimum qualifications for staffing to protect the quality of service available. A review of eight other large states revealed that none had any statewide requirement for student health service, leaving its provision to local college discretion. Except for Illinois and Florida, few of the local community colleges were known to have on-campus services. The 19 California districts contacted are listed. (JMC)