The American Association of Community Colleges
Who We Are
Founded in 1920, the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) has, over four decades, become the leading proponent and the national "voice for community colleges." The association represents almost 1,200 two-year, associate degree–granting institutions and more than 11 million students, as well as a growing number of international members in Puerto Rico, Japan, Great Britain, Korea, and the United Arab Emirates. The colleges are the largest and fastest-growing sector of U.S. higher education, enrolling close to half (46 percent) of all U.S. undergraduates. AACC is the primary advocacy organization for community colleges at the national level and works closely with directors of state offices to inform and affect state policy.
What Are We Doing To Promote College Completion
In an unprecedented and unified action, AACC and five other national organizations representing the nation's 1,200 community colleges, their governing boards, their faculty and their 11.8 million students have pledged in a statement of commitment to increase student completion rates by 50 percent over the next decade. Leaders of the Association of Community College Trustees, League for Innovation, Center for Community College Student Engagement, National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development, and Phi Theta Kappa joined AACC President George Boggs in signing the Democracy's Colleges: Call to Action statement at AACC's national convention on April 20, 2010.
On September 9, 2010, the presidents of AACC and the Association of Community College Trustees (ACCT) wrote to member CEOs and board chairs to ask them to join in a call to action to engage community college institutions to advance 'the completion agenda'—increasing the number of students who complete degrees, certificates, and other credentials with value in the work place. In addition, AACC, in partnership with the Association of Community College Trustees (ACCT) and The College Board, are developing a new Voluntary Framework of Accountability to identify benchmarks by which community colleges can be measured.
Visit "College Completion Challenge: A Call to Action" at the AACC website
