Washtenaw Community College - Campus Life

Campus Life

The Washtenaw Community College (WCC) core campus includes 14 instructional and auxiliary buildings and is surrounded by 291 acres of pristine woodlands and naturalized spaces in the heart of Washtenaw County and southeast Michigan. The college sponsors off-site extension centers in Brighton, Dexter, Hartland and two in Ypsilanti.

Over 13,000 students enroll in credit classes each fall and winter semester; adults 18–24 years of age represent almost 48 percent of the WCC student body. The college charters Washtenaw Technical Middle College, one of the most successful high school middle colleges in the country. The WCC Foundation provides over $400,000 in scholarships annually. In 2009 WCC received a full ten-year accreditation renewal without contingencies from the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association. Washtenaw offers over 1,000 credit classes and learning off campus at extension centers.

Washtenaw Community College is publicly funded, with an annual operating budget in excess of $98,500,000; full-time authorized strength is 561 employees. A new outdoor athletic complex was dedicated in fall 2010 adjacent to a premier health and fitness center. After state-funded renovations are completed in fall 2011, a 120,000-square-foot (11,000 m2) classroom building will be heated and cooled by the earth through geothermal technology.

Orchard Radio broadcasts live on the web and is one of the first Internet-based radio formats produced by a college. The college's on-site child care center was established in 1968, long before on-site programs became popular with businesses.

The college claims ownership of the largest fossiliferous limestone rock (55 tons and roughly 400 million years old) ever unearthed in the region. The school newspaper is known as the Washtenaw Voice. Washtenaw Community College is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission (HLC) of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools (NCA).