After being assured he was in the right place, Mr. Santalone said he wanted to open a two-year certificate of deposit, and a teller left to get the paperwork.

Mr. Santalone, 66, the owner of Atlantic Irrigation in Deer Park, said that a newspaper ad had attracted him to the bank and that the 3.8 percent rate it was offering on two-year certificates was the highest on Long Island.

Among the few issues that were priced was a $50 million taxable offering of two-year certificates of deposit from the Bank of Tokyo's Portland, Ore., branch.

Apparently in violation of a court order, the vessel was in New York on Aug. 2, 1993, for inspection, after which she received a two-year certificate.

"I can't even get a clerical job because I don't have a one- or two-year certificate from a learning institution," said Mrs. Eagle, who wears her long hair parted neatly down the middle.

By 1928, the school was able to offer two-year professional certificates and diplomas after becoming a state junior college.

But these savings bonds aren't that compelling today, because I-Bonds bought from now to April are yielding only 2.19 percent, less than the yield for the average two-year certificate of deposit.

In 1945 the college developed a college preparatory instructional programme and in 1947, Caribbean Training College was official declared a junior college, offering two-year post-secondary certificates in theology, teacher training, and business and secretarial science.

Founded in 1971 as Grant MacEwan Community College, the institution got its start by offering primarily one and two-year certificate and diploma programs.

Each year Community College Week publishes a special report on the top associate degree and certificate producers in the United States, considering the public, private nonprofit, and proprietary institutions of higher education that award two-year degrees and one- and two-year certificates.