Austin Community College District (ACC) continues to see strong, sustained enrollment growth for the fourth consecutive year, significantly outpacing national community college averages. 

Based on preliminary data, 46,428 credit students registered for the fall 2026 semester, an increase of 6% from fall 2025, with combined new and continuing enrollment growing 14% in one year.

Enrollment has grown 16% over two years, with new/continuing growth expanding 34% over two years.

ACC’s growth outshines national community college benchmarks released in late October 2026, which showed only 1.2% 1-year and 4.8% 2-year growth.

Free Tuition as Strategic Driver

The College’s Free Tuition pilot program is driving accelerated growth in direct-to-college (DTC) students. ACC achieved a 5-percentage-point increase in the DTC rate this fall, which contributed to the overall 2% increase in Central Texas’ college-going rate.

Combining the 2024, 2025, and 2026 cohorts, there are 14,669 Free Tuition students this fall.  The class of 2026 reached 5,580 students, a slight increase from last year’s cohort of 5,173.

Critical Continuing Student Enrollment 

With new student registration remaining steady, continuing student enrollment is driving the College’s overall enrollment growth. Continuing student registration jumped from 31,689 last year to 34,082 this year. These students make up 73% of fall 2026 enrollment, up from 72% in fall 2025.

Student Enrollment Profile

Our Fall 2026 undergraduate students are:

  • 83% traditional / 17% high school students
  • 58% female / 42% male students
  • 70% non-adult learner / 30% adult learner
  • 43% Hispanic / 34% White / 9% Black / 7% Asian

ACC continues to play an essential role in the Central Texas economy, with 80% of ACC students living in-district, expanding from 35,753 last fall to 37,198 this fall. The College also saw a small jump in out-of-state students, from 815 to 1,418. 

Full-time enrollment — an important component of ACC’s North Star goal — has grown to nearly 29% this year, up from 24% last year. The goal is to reach 33% full-time enrollment, closing the gap toward leading peer institution benchmarks of 40–45%.

Next Steps

The College has set a target for academic year 2027-28 of a 13% increase in headcount and three enrollments per traditional student. It will continue to roll out Theory of Change projects this year, including Strategic Scheduling, which will require engagement from areas across the College.