For years, nurses, doctors, lawyers, police officers and teachers have been among the folks constantly portrayed on TV. Community college students are getting some attention with NBC’s new show, “Community,” which is great timing as enrollment has spiked at community colleges.

With NBC’s “Community,” starring comedians Joel McHale and Chevy Chase, you won’t find a complete true picture of life at community colleges (and you shouldn’t expect it with a sitcom), but it’s interesting to see community colleges getting their spotlight as so many students of all ages are considering signing up for courses at the schools.

Here are three things early episodes of the new show have shown about attending a community college.

1) You’ll find a diverse student body.

Sure, they’ve been described as misfits on “Community,” but the students on the show poke holes in the perception that only a couple types of students – drifters and first-generation students – attend community college. Kay M. McClenney, director of the Center for Community College Student Engagement, recently wrote in the New York Times that community college students include displaced workers pursuing new careers and skills, students born outside of the U.S., older adults seeking their first college degree, and honors students whose families can’t afford university tuition for all four years. The lineup of characters on “Community” attempts to mirror those points, with Chase playing the older, non-traditional student, joined by a 28-year-old female college dropout, a middle-aged divorcée, the former high school football star, the smart but high-strung perfectionist, and a half-Palestinian pop culture junkie.

2) There’s no easy way out (of a class).

In the pilot, McHale’s character, a disbarred attorney who is back at school to earn a degree, tries to bribe a school official he represented in a court case to get test answers. His plot is foiled, and from there, the study group of “Community” characters is created, frequently gathering the library’s study room and forging relationships that are the focus of the series.

3) Acceptance can be an issue.

Part of the motto touted by the show’s fictional Greendale Community College, which has a fake Web site too, is “You’re already accepted.” But some colleges are seeing so many applicants that they’re revising their open-door policies. So as you hear some of the characters make negative comments that seems like they feel inferior to those at universities, realize that it’s getting tougher to get in, and it will be interesting to see if Greendale also adapts to the changes real schools are facing today.

~Lori Johnston