Baton Rouge Community College

Baton Rouge Community College was born from a 1994 Desegregation Settlement Agreement between Louisiana and the U.S. Department of Justice to eliminate remnants of a dual-race system in the state’s post-secondary educational structure. The college officially opened its doors on August 20, 1998, expecting an estimated enrollment of 700 students. Instead, faculty and staff were shocked to find almost triple that number – 1,866 enrollees – waiting.

The first year was only the beginning. By 1999, Baton Rouge Community College, described by the Baton Rouge Advocate as “bursting at the seams,” found itself on a razor’s edge, racing to meet the needs of an ever-growing, widely varying student population: traditional, non-traditional, special-needs, first-generation, and continuing-education students – all reflecting the diverse residents within the eight-parish area it served. The college’s wild success enabled it to secure alternative financing to accomplish additional facilities' quick construction as demand skyrocketed.