Students

Earning an academic credential is the foundation for a life of reward and advancement. Students who pursue higher education drastically improve the quality of their life through higher earned income potential and increased career pathways.

Community College Improves Lives

Our mission is to provide accessible, high-quality, and affordable educational opportunities that lead to constructive citizenship, meaningful careers, and lifelong learning.

The Governing Board, staff and faculty works hard to serve anyone who wishes to pursue higher education, and like many institutions across the nation, we are renewing our commitment to completion. The Santa Cruz Center is dedicated to helping students achieve their goals in an efficient manner. In Santa Cruz County, our Provisional Community College provides services and programs to meet diverse needs. It is a time of growth for the Santa Cruz Center and we’re committed to providing support for developing programs and services. It is our pledge to ensure the Santa Cruz Center provides the quality programs and services that students have come to expect.

A unique American invention

Community Colleges are an American invention that put publicly funded higher education at close-to-home facilities, beginning nearly 100 years ago with Joliet Junior College. Since then, community colleges have been inclusive institutions that welcome all who desire to learn, regardless of wealth, heritage or previous academic experience. The process of making higher education available to the maximum number of people continues to evolve at 1,167 public and independent community colleges—1,600 when branch campuses are included.

Community colleges are the access point for education in communities and a real catalyst for economic development. Without them, millions of students and adult education or the workplace.