Alabama Community Colleges (2-Yr Colleges)

Alabama Junior Colleges, Technical Schools, and Institutes

The State of Alabama administers its own system of higher education which operate at least two tiers of public colleges. One being the community colleges in Alabama, sometimes called Alabama junior colleges, or Alabama technical institutes, and so-called "four-year" Alabama colleges which award bachelor's and master's degrees. The "two-year" community educational institutions provide post-secondary education and lower-level tertiary education, granting certificates, diplomas, and associate's degrees in Alabama. The name, "community colleges" derives from the fact that "two-year" colleges primarily accept, and attract, students from the Alabama local community.

Alabama's college system includes a mix of community, junior and technical colleges. Alabama's first state-operated trade school was the Alabama School of Trades which opened in 1925. The 1947 Alabama Legislature passed the Regional Vocational and Trade Shop Act approving the creation of five regional trade schools. Additional institutions were created in the 1960s to respond to the growing needs for skill training. The 1963 legislative session approved a state network of technical and junior colleges to improve the quality of postsecondary education by making it available and reasonably priced. Three technical colleges and two junior colleges were designated in 1973 as all-inclusive community colleges. In the next 20 years a number of other institutions were merged or restructured in an effort to reduce duplication between community colleges and degree-granting technical schools. There are 19 community college, two junior colleges and 10 two-year technical colleges in the state today.

George Corley Wallace is widely recognized as the father of the state's publicly controlled two-year colleges. By January of 1987, as his final term as Governor closed, there was forty-one separately administered institutions, governed by a single board, that served over sixty-two thousand students.

Alabama College Degrees, Certificates, & Diplomas

Alabama Cities Colleges:

Alabama Community Colleges and Two Year Colleges

• Alabama Southern Community College
  • Monroeville, AL
  • Thomasville, AL
  • Gilbertown, AL
  • Jackson, AL
• Bevill State Community College
  • Fayette, AL
  • Hamilton, AL
  • Jasper, AL
  • Sumiton, AL
• Bishop State Community College (Mobile, AL)
• Calhoun Community College
  • Decatur, AL
  • Tanner, AL
• Central Alabama Community College
  • Childersburg, AL
  • Alexander City, AL
• Chattahoochee Valley Community College (Phoenix, AL)
• Community College of the Air Force (Montgomery, AL)
• Enterprise State Junior College
  • Enterprise, AL
  • Ozark, AL
  • Fort Rucker, AL
  • Mobile, AL
• Gadsden State Community College
• George C. Wallace State Community College
  • Dothan, AL
  • Fort Rucker, AL
  • Eufaula, AL
• George Corley Wallace State Community College (Selma, AL)
• James H. Faulkner State Community College
  • Bay Minnette, AL
  • Fairhope, AL
  • Gulf Shores, AL
• Jefferson Davis Community College
• Jefferson State Community College (Birmingham, AL)
• Lawson State Community College
• Lurleen B. Wallace State Junior College
  • Andalusia, AL
  • Greenville, AL
  • Opp, AL
• Marion Military Institute (Marion, AL)
• Northeast Alabama Community College (Rainsville, AL)
• Northwest-Shoals Community College
  • Muscle Shoals, AL
  • Phil Campbell, AL
• Shelton State Community College (Tuscaloosa, AL)
• Snead State Community College (Boaz, AL)
• Southern Union State Community College (Valley, AL)
• Wallace State Community College (Hanceville, AL)