Austin, TX – July 31, 2008 – Registration for the fall semester has started at Austin Community College with more than 34,000 students expected to take advantage of classes in over 180 programs of study. In-district tuition rates are $39 per credit hour, one of the lowest in the state. Classes begin August 25. Highlights at ACC this fall include:

Gaming Institute – ACC now offers three associate degree choices in gaming – Game Design, Game Art and Game & Visualization Programming – and is opening a Game Design Institute at the Northridge Campus – www.austincc.edu/techcert/gaming.

Healthcare programs – ACC is the area’s No. 1 trainer and retrainer for allied healthcare professionals and offers programs from nursing to pharmacy tech to paramedic to occupational therapy assistant and much more – www.austincc.edu/health.

Five-week classes – ACC is introducing a new type of weekend class that lets students earn three college credits in just five weekends.  Each class meets Friday evenings and Saturday days at the Rio Grande Campus to accommodate most work schedules.

Early College Start – High school students can take up to two ACC classes per semester and earn up to 30 credit hours of college credit for free before they graduate – www.austincc.edu/ecs. 

Weekend College – Enrollment for this program grew 24 percent last year and is expected to continue growing as ACC adds a fifth campus to the program. Weekend College allows residents to complete a college degree, certificate or transferable core curriculum on weekends. Cypress Creek will begin offering Weekend College classes in spring – www.austincc.edu/weekend.

Tech Prep – As early as ninth grade, students can take technical classes taught at their high school that count toward a technical degree at ACC – www.austincc.edu/Catpc.

Quick Careers – ACC offers dozens of credit and noncredit programs to take students from the classroom to the workplace in one year or less – www.austincc.edu/future/pdf/QuickCareers.pdf.

Aesthetic laser technician program – ACC has partnered with Kushan LLC to begin the Aesthetic Laser Technician Program this fall. The 10-week course prepares students for employment in this growing field – www.austincc.edu/ce/files/hpi/aesthetic-laser-training.pdf.

Round Rock students – All Round Rock ISD residents now pay in-district rates. The new Round Rock Campus is scheduled to open in the fall of 2010; in the meantime, residents can take classes at the Round Rock Higher Education Center, any ACC campus or via the college’s popular Distance Learning Program – www.austincc.edu/rrc.