Community Colleges in Oregon

When the Oregon Legislature enacted the statutes creating community colleges in 1961, it did not create the institutions. Instead it created a way for the people to form their own community colleges. Since that time state lawmakers have consistently supported the principle that community colleges should be controlled at the local level through locally elected boards of education. (ORS Chapter 341)

By statute, community college boards are required to keep in touch with the needs of the people they serve and provide the educational programs that meet those needs.

The statutes that established community colleges indicate the intention “to fill the institutional gap in education by offering broad, comprehensive programs in academic as well as vocational-technical subjects.” Oregon law prohibits community colleges from becoming baccalaureate degree granting institutions. (ORS 341.009)

Community colleges are designed to provide continuing adult education in either academic areas or professional technical training.

Admission to a community college is open to all high school graduates and to “non-high school graduates who can profit from the instruction offered.” However, admission to some programs is limited by available space or admission requirements. The law also requires community college tuition to be “sufficiently low to permit students of low-income families to attend.” [ORS 341.009(6) and (17)]

Another requirement is that a community college’s location “be within commuting time of a substantial majority of its students.” [ORS 341.009(2)]

[Return to top]