Kaskaskia College was established in 1940 as Centralia Junior College and with the passage of the Community College Act of 1965, KC was the first college created under that legislation and holds the distinct designation as District 501. Currently more than 12,000 students receive their higher education training through programs and services offered at KC’s main campus, the Crisp Technology Center, Vandalia Branch Campus, or at any of the four other education centers throughout the KC district, including the Trenton, Salem, Greenville and Nashville Education Centers.

Kaskaskia College is the fastest growing community college in the state of Illinois over the past ten years with a credit hour growth of 71%.* KC is also the fourth most cost effective community college with a net instructional unit cost of $164.93 per credit hour.*

KC also ranks fifth in the state in terms of students graduating with their degrees or certificates.* Within 3 years, 70.6% of KC students were successful; they had either:

• Completed their degree or certificate programs at KC;
• Were still enrolled and moving forward to program completion;
• Or, had successfully transferred to another higher education institution to pursue completion of their Bachelors Degree.

As part of its continuous improvement efforts, Kaskaskia College surveyed residents throughout the College district with the respondents overwhelmingly agreeing that their community college plays important roles in their communities, especially regarding the workforce training and local economic development.

• 85% feel it’s important to have access to a quality community college. /li>
• 82% feel it’s essential that the area has a quality community college as a place for adults to be retrained for new jobs and careers.

Respondents also saw KC to be a good value for the taxes they pay with 89% agreeing that “taxes paid to support our local community college are a good investment in our community.”

Students surveyed by the College show that 90% believe the quality of instruction they are receiving from Kaskaskia College is excellent/good, while 92% express overall satisfaction with their experience at KC.