Community College Highlight: Grand Rapids Community College

3/19/2022

By Cait Fitzpatrick

Grand Rapids Community College, located in the heart of Grand Rapids, MI was established on September 21st, 1914 after University of Michigan faculty passed a resolution to establish the junior college on the west side of the state. It previously went by the name of “Grand Rapids Junior College,” as did many 2-year institutions during the 1900’s. Today, it’s more commonly known as “GRCC.” GRCC was Michigan’s very first junior college and operated out of Central high School not too far from today’s main campus.

 Main campus is conveniently located in downtown Grand Rapids, a booming metropolitan Midwest city and resides just blocks from the Grand Rapids Medical Mile. However, GRCC has several other campuses located throughout West Michigan. Other campus locations include Holland, Lakeshore and the DeVos Campus. Enrollment at GRCC is nearly 14,000 students, with about 4,104 being full-time college students and a student-faculty ratio of 20-to-1. GRCC has been an accredited institution by the Higher Learning Commission since 1917. 

Due to its exceptional location next to the Medical Mile, many students tend to pursue a nursing degree or nursing certificate at GRCC. In fact, it’s so popular that students who are interested in the Associate Degree Nursing Program will be put on a waiting list that is approximately 2½ to 3 years long. GRCC also offers an extensive list of workforce training programs, mostly online. For students looking to take a more “traditional” route, there are opportunities to obtain an  associates of arts, science and applied sciences which most students will then use to transfer into a larger institution. As an alumni of GRCC, I can say that the campus environment is welcoming, urban and tasteful. I truly enjoyed my courses and making connections with faculty, mentors and classmates while I obtained my Associate’s in Spanish.  

GRCC has many academic partnerships with surrounding universities such as Michigan State University and Grand Valley State University and they have developed long standing articulation agreements for most of their degrees in order to better serve transfer students. Long time supporters and donors of GRCC include the VanAndel, Cook and DeVos family of Grand Rapids. The DeVos family gained significant popularity when billionaire Betsy DeVos held the position of Secretary of Education from 2016-2020.