Established on February 14, 1964 as Harrisburg Area Community College, HACC is devoted to the community and the individual. HACC's devotion to the community stems directly from our mission, which is to foster educational, cultural, work force development, and economic growth of the college service areas.

Today, we call ourselves HACC, Central Pennsylvania’s Community College to better describe our regional nature. We serve an eight-county primary service area from five physical campuses, a robust virtual campus and many off-site locations.

HACC is one of 14 community colleges in Pennsylvania. Community colleges in Pennsylvania The Community College Act of 1963 (Act 484, Statutes of 1963) authorized local communities to petition the Pennsylvania Department of Education to sponsor and establish community colleges in the Commonwealth. HACC was the first community college established under the provisions of that act.

Each college must have a local sponsor, which may be a city, county, individual school district or consortium of these entities. HACC is one of four sponsored by school districts. Once established, community colleges are permitted to establish additional locations in non-sponsoring areas. HACC’s Harrisburg Campus is the original, sponsored campus. The other four campuses are in non-sponsored areas and students from those areas pay approximately double that of the sponsored students to make up the sponsoring district contribution.

With more than 25 thousand degree-seeking students and more than 50 thousand non-credit enrollments, we are one of the engines driving Central Pennsylvania and we are the second largest community college in the state.

Today, we offer nearly 200 degree, diploma and certificate programs and we have dual admissions and formal articulation agreements with a wide variety of four year schools.

We are accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Universities. Many of our programs carry individual accreditations from other bodies.

HACC provides students with:
• High academic standards
• Focus on student success
• Lowest tuition in the area
• Scholarship awards
• Small classes/individual attention from faculty
• Honors Program for high achievers
• Comprehensive learning resources, including onsite and online library and bookstore
• State-of-the-art computer labs
• Active Student Government Association, numerous student clubs, and student newspaper
• Inter-collegiate sports, including basketball, volleyball, tennis, and soccer

Services that promote student success:
• First Choice: exclusive freshman orientation program for incoming high school grads
• Focus on student success
• Placement testing to promote student success in the classroom
• Learning Center support
• Free tutoring and academic workshops, including the Master Student program
• Academic advising and career counseling
• Transfer Center with resources to research four-year transfer schools

Open Door enrollment:
• For applicants at least 18 with high school diploma or GED
• No SAT scores are necessary

Early Admission Program for High School Seniors:
• Qualified high school students can earn college credits, either on a full- or part-time basis, while completing their senior year of high school.
• It is possible for high school graduates to start their freshman year with as many as 12 college credits.

Student Makeup:
• Median age of our students is 29
• 60% are women, 40% are men
• Two-thirds live with a spouse and/or children
• Almost all hold a full-time or part-time job

Enrollment:
Anticipated enrollment, Fall 2010 –25 thousand students. Headcounts at each campus as follows: *
Gettysburg – 2,000
Lancaster – 5,000
Lebanon – 1,200
Harrisburg – 10,000
York – 3,000
Virtual – 5,000
* Individual campus enrollments includes students who are cross-enrolled at multiple locations so the total exceeds the unduplicated headcount for the college.

Fall 2009 Enrollment (pdf)