This working paper discusses the unique and complex issues community colleges face in providing career counseling and guidance to students, and it provides an overview of the current status of these services. Guidance and counseling at community colleges is complicated by the variety of students and the varying needs of population--from the older student who may be changing careers to the young first-generation student with little information about both education and employment. Though campuses have counseling and guidance centers, these centers are often adjuncts that have little resources and high student-to-counselor ratios. This is complicated by the fact that many institutions have several centers such as the transfer center, the career center, and separate centers for low-income, minority, or disabled students. Although this separation of services is justified as serving the diverse needs of students, its efficacy is not clear. The paper discusses how research needs to be done to better understand the needs of students and how to meet those needs. It also suggests that comprehensive research needs to be done, among other things, to assess the variety of services offered, the resources committed to guidance and counseling, and how different approaches to counseling affect students. (Contains 23 references.) (LD)