AUSTIN COMMUNITY COLLEGE. Austin Community College, a two-year institution of higher education, was established in Austin late in 1972 to serve the capital area of Texas. Students of all ages, ethnic groups, and educational backgrounds were enrolled; classes opened in September 1973 in several locations in the city with 2,200 students. Administrative offices were on the Ridgeview campus, the old Anderson High School building in East Austin. Thomas M. Hatfield was named president by the school board of the Austin Independent School District, the governing body of the college. The fall 1974 enrollment was 7,061. The college holds membership in the Association of Texas Colleges and Universities, the American Association of Community and Junior Colleges, the Texas Public Community/Junior College Association, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, and the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board.

Austin Community College offers college parallel freshman and sophomore courses, occupational programs, and adult education in 146 concentrations. The college confers associate degrees and certificates of completion. In 2001 the school had six campuses: Cypress Creek, Eastview, Northridge, Pinnacle, Rio Grande, and Riverside, as well as the Highland Business Center and the Downtown Center, which offered business and workforce training. It also offered classes at forty locations throughout Travis, Williamson, Bastrop, Hays, Caldwell, Blanco, Burnet, and Gillespie counties. Nontraditional instruction was offered via various telecommunications outlets. Combined, the ACC libraries house over 133,000 volumes of print, audiovisual, and computer software material. In 2001 Dr. Richard Fonté was president. Enrollment in the fall of 2000 was 25,856.