{"id":53109,"date":"2026-11-10T14:33:27","date_gmt":"2026-11-10T19:33:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/students.austincc.edu\/infohub\/?p=53109"},"modified":"2026-11-10T14:33:32","modified_gmt":"2026-11-10T19:33:32","slug":"acc-graduates-help-power-central-texas-economy-as-college-reports-record-completions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/students.austincc.edu\/infohub\/2026\/11\/10\/acc-graduates-help-power-central-texas-economy-as-college-reports-record-completions\/","title":{"rendered":"ACC Graduates Help Power Central Texas Economy as College Reports Record Completions"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"> Austin Community College District (ACC) is reporting historic gains in student completions. These results offer an early measure of the College\u2019s broader transformation as it rethinks how it serves students and works toward its goal of helping more Central Texans achieve their educational and career goals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI\u2019m incredibly proud of what our students and employees are accomplishing together. Reaching a record number of completions is a significant milestone, and it tells us that the changes we\u2019re making are making a difference,\u201d says ACC Chancellor Dr. Russell Lowery-Hart. \u201cWe\u2019re still early in this work. We\u2019re continuing to rethink how we connect students to the right programs, support, and opportunities. This progress gives us reason to believe in what\u2019s possible when we keep putting students at the center of everything we do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">During academic year (AY) 2025-26, ACC celebrated the highest completions in College history:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>13,218 degrees and awards earned.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>14% growth in just one year.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>34% growth over two years.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The gains extend across most credential types, including associate degrees, bachelor\u2019s degrees, certificates, and Occupational Skills Awards (OSAs).&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">ACC\u2019s approach focuses on removing barriers to completion and strengthening the support students receive throughout their educational journey. Key results include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Free Tuition Pilot Program:<\/strong> More than 1,600 degrees and credentials earned by students participating in the program since inception, including 1,255 in AY 2025\u201326. The program removes tuition and general fee barriers for eligible students.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Stronger student persistence:<\/strong> 67% fall-to-fall persistence among students receiving basic needs support, compared with 57% among ACC students overall.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Basic needs support:<\/strong> More than 11,300 students served by Riverbat Bites Food Pantries.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Increased College access:<\/strong> Direct-to-college enrollment has increased 61% since the launch of Free Tuition.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Better pathways to completion<\/strong>: ACC is continuing work to improve advising and strategic course scheduling so students can more easily understand their options, get the courses they need, and stay on track toward their goals.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">ACC is also seeing growth in completions across several workforce-focused areas, helping prepare students for careers that support Central Texas employers and the region&#8217;s changing economy:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>School of Advanced Manufacturing: Up 62% in one year\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>School of Computer Science and Information Technology: Up 18% in one year<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>School of Applied Technologies: Up 6% in one year<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>School of Health Science and School of Nursing: Up 7% in one year<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The progress is part of ACC&#8217;s Theory of Change, a framework guiding the College&#8217;s work to redesign institutional practices, align resources, and remove barriers that can prevent students from completing their education. Rather than expecting students to navigate systems that may not be designed around their needs, ACC is working to change those systems to better support student success.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Basic Needs was the first area ACC reimagined through its Theory of Change and the first to be implemented across the College. By expanding access to resources such as food assistance, ACC is addressing barriers that can make it difficult for students to stay enrolled and complete. The next phase of the work will focus on strengthening the systems, like strategic scheduling and advising, that help students move from enrollment to completion and into the workforce.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">ACC will celebrate another record-breaking number of graduates at the Fall Commencement Ceremony on Thursday, December 10, at the H-E-B Center at Cedar Park. For more information, visit <a href=\"http:\/\/austincc.edu\/commencement\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">austincc.edu\/commencement<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Austin Community College District (ACC) is reporting historic gains in student completions. These results offer an early measure of the College\u2019s broader transformation as it rethinks how it serves students and works toward its goal of helping more Central Texans achieve their educational and career goals. \u201cI\u2019m incredibly proud of what our students and employees [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":103,"featured_media":53110,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[488,1707,486],"class_list":["post-53109","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-for-you","tag-commencement","tag-completions","tag-graduation","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/students.austincc.edu\/infohub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53109","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/students.austincc.edu\/infohub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/students.austincc.edu\/infohub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/students.austincc.edu\/infohub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/103"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/students.austincc.edu\/infohub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53109"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/students.austincc.edu\/infohub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53109\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":53111,"href":"https:\/\/students.austincc.edu\/infohub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53109\/revisions\/53111"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/students.austincc.edu\/infohub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53110"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/students.austincc.edu\/infohub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53109"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/students.austincc.edu\/infohub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53109"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/students.austincc.edu\/infohub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53109"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}