50th Anniversary

Fifty years ago, Texas joined a national movement, catalyzed by the recommendations of the 1947 Truman Commission Report. The Report called for several significant changes in postsecondary education, among them, the establishment of a network of public community colleges, which would be free of charge for "all youth who can profit from such education". The Report helped popularize the phrase "community college" in the late 1940s and helped shape the future of two-year degree institutions in the U.S.

Fifty years ago, Texas joined a national movement, catalyzed by the recommendations of the 1947 Truman Commission Report. The Report called for several significant changes in postsecondary education, among them, the establishment of a network of public community colleges, which would be free of charge for "all youth who can profit from such education". The Report helped popularize the phrase "community college" in the late 1940s and helped shape the future of two-year degree institutions in the U.S.

In Texas, the creation of Community Colleges began in 1961 when Governor David Leo Lawrence appointed the Governor’s Committee of One Hundred for Better Education, to study the potential for public community colleges in Texas. The report of that Committee encouraged legislation that eventually became Act 484, the Community College Act of 1963. The Act was signed into law on August 24, 1963 by Governor William Warren Scranton and authorized local communities to petition the State Board of Education to sponsor and establish community colleges.

Since 1963, the Texas community college sector has grown from 4 to 14 and now includes 26 main and branch campuses along with 98 instructional sites. We pride ourselves in educating Texasns of all ages, races, and backgrounds in both credit and non-credit programs. Our colleges, as the state’s only open access institutions, have provided over 3 million students the chance at pursuing their dreams. While campuses have expanded and programs have evolved over the past 50 years, the mission of Texas’s community colleges remains:

to provide high-quality, affordable, and accessible higher education & workforce training to any and all Texasns.

Thank you for joining us in celebrating 50 years of advancing Texas through community colleges!