When you choose education or workforce services at any of the 24 colleges within the Alabama Community College System (ACCS), you have chosen a remarkable path that leads toward a better future. As Chancellor of the ACCS, I welcome you to a college experience that has nurtured, built and solidified success for hundreds of thousands of residents and businesses every year.

What our community colleges do for the residents of Alabama is vital and effective. We offer life-long learning opportunities through academic transfer, adult education, and workforce development programs that help students achieve their greatest goals and chart a path of success in life. We offer over 300 degrees and certifications that are relevant to our students and the state’s employers, and award more than 30,000 credentials every year, from self-paced adult education and job-ready certificates to rapid workforce credentials and two-year associate degrees. More than 144,000 students pursue the academic and technical programs we offer each year, and we want you to be a part of the community college family.

We work with both public and private schools and four-year universities to offer residents the education programs they need. We offer academic and career technical dual enrollment classes that allow high school students to earn college credit that saves valuable money and time towards a certificate or degree. We are also here for residents who want to work toward their GEDs or high school credentials as well as employees who want to train for high-skill, high-demand, high-wage careers.

As national and international businesses continue to look to our state for growth opportunities, we want to be able to continue to deliver training to students who become some of the strongest workers in their fields of study. Small businesses, the lifeblood of our state’s economy, also count on us to provide skilled workers equipped with new and enhanced skill sets to meet businesses’ changing needs. Our System has over 67 apprenticeships that have been developed with participating Alabama companies, with over 800 students that have been or are currently receiving skills training while also earning a paycheck at an Alabama business. Also, our workforce assessment and training initiatives offered through the Alabama Technology Network (ATN) provide valuable growth opportunities for both employees and employers.

In addition, we have recently announced the creation of the ACCS Innovation Center, a workforce development initiative that offers rapid training for in-demand positions in a variety of industry sectors such as hospitality and tourism, trucking, highway maintenance and construction, and others that lead to industry-recognized short-term certifications and credentials upon completion of the programs offered at Alabama’s community and technical colleges.

We are proud of an affordability rate for residents to attend college that is often less than half the cost residents will spend for some of the same, core classes at four-year universities. Many of our programs are even free, thanks to scholarships and grants provided by state and federal government support.

We are accessible. There are more than 50 campuses with over 130 service locations across the ACCS, meaning that at least one community college location is in or close to every community across the state.

Under the leadership of the ACCS Board of Trustees, we are building a college system that addresses the workforce challenges that Alabama – and the country – are facing and that is laser-focused on the student experience.

It matters, because you matter. I welcome you to an exciting opportunity with the Alabama Community College System.