ACC Students Earned a Record 13,218 Degrees and Awards, Up 14 Percent in a Year
Austin Community College's fall data show record completions across academic and workforce programs — with Advanced Manufacturing up 62 percent — and a Free Tuition cohort that has already produced 1,640 completions.
AUSTIN — Austin Community College students earned 13,218 degrees and awards in academic year 2025-26, a record high for the institution, according to newly updated completion and persistence data the college reported this fall.
The total is up 14 percent from 11,603 completions in 2024-25 and 34 percent from 9,852 in 2023-24, putting ACC within reach of its Institutional Effectiveness Report Card target of 13,925 completions by 2027-28. Associate degrees and certificates each rose by approximately 500, while Occupational Skills Awards rose by nearly 1,000, the college reported.
The workforce gains are the Central Texas angle: the School of Advanced Manufacturing grew 62 percent in one year, Computer Science and Information Technology 18 percent, Health Science and Nursing 7 percent, and Applied Technologies 6 percent — programs the college says prepare students for careers supporting Central Texas employers.
The college credits its Theory of Change work on removing barriers: students receiving Basic Needs support persisted fall-to-fall at 67 percent, against 57 percent for other students, and the Riverbat Bites Food Pantries served 11,362 students in the past year. The Free Tuition program expanded direct-to-college enrollment by 61 percent and has produced 1,640 completions so far, including 1,255 in 2025-26. 'This kind of progress doesn't happen by accident,' Chancellor Dr. Russell Lowery-Hart said in a message to employees quoted in the report. Strategic Scheduling and Required Advising rollouts are next.
