Lorain County Community College

Lorain County Community College

Type	Public community college
Established	1963;62 years ago (1963)
Parent institution	University System of Ohio
Academic affiliations	Space-grant
Endowment	$40.8 million (2020) [1]
President	Marcia Ballinger
Students	12,773 as of fall 2023. [2]
Location	Elyria , Ohio , United States
Colors	Navy Blue, Yellow, White
Nickname	Commodores
Website	www.lorainccc.edu

Lorain County Community College (LCCC) is a public community college in the city of Elyria in Lorain County, Ohio, with learning centers in Wellington, North Ridgeville, and Lorain. In addition to associate degrees and certificates, students can earn bachelor's and master's degrees on campus through the college's partnerships with universities.

History

The Lorain County Community College campus in Elyria, Ohio.

Lorain County Community College was the first community college in Ohio to have a permanent campus, located at 1005 North Abbe Road, Elyria, Ohio. ^{[3] [4]} The college was founded on July 15, 1963.

Its fifth president, Marcia Ballinger, was inaugurated on July 1, 2016. ^[5]

In 2025, LCCC was named a top 10% most affordable college in the nation by the U.S. Department of Education’s College Affordability and Transparency Center ^[6] .

In 2018, the college was recognized by the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) as the 2018 Recipient of the AACC Award of Excellence in Student Success. ^[7] Two years later, Achieving the Dream awarded the college the 2020 Leah Meyer Austin Award, ^[8] ATD's national prize reserved for network colleges that show greatest, sustained improvements in student outcomes and student success.

Academics

LCCC operates on a semester system and is accredited by Higher Learning Commission. It offers program and career pathways in arts and humanities; engineering, business and information technologies; health and wellness, science and mathematics; social sciences and human services.

The college offers traditional and online courses for numerous associate programs as well as classes that easily transfer to other colleges and universities.

LCCC's Division of Arts and Humanities is home to several distinguished scholars and artists, notably 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry finalist and 2006 Lannan Literary Award-winning poet and memoirist Bruce Weigl and composer Jeffrey Mumford, 2013 composer-in-residence at the National Gallery of Art. Marilyn Valentino, professor emeritus of English, served as national chair of the Conference on College Composition and Communication in 2010.^{[ citation needed ] [9]}

The college was the first community college in Ohio to offer an applied bachelor's degree in micro-electrical mechanical systems (MEMS). The MEMS program prepares students for entry into a career after completing hands-on paid internships. ^[10] LCCC is also currently the only community college in Ohio to offer a MEMS associate degree program.

LCCC was the first community college to exhibit a fabrication lab, the "Fab Lab", on its campus. As a Massachusetts Institute of Technology project in 2005, it was the second public facility in the country with the equipment. This technology allows students and the community first-hand experience with a very technical and economical skill. ^{[11] [12]}

References

1. As of June 30, 2020. U.S. and Canadian Institutions Listed by Fiscal Year 2020 Endowment Market Value and Change in Endowment Market Value from FY19 to FY20 (Report). National Association of College and University Business Officers and TIAA. February 19, 2021. Retrieved February 21, 2021.
2. https://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/dfr/2023/ReportHTML.aspx?unitId=203748
3. "Lorain County Community College Named One of Three Community Colleges to Lead Ohio in Delivering Applied Bachelor's Degrees". markets.businessinsider.com. Retrieved 2022-10-03.
4. "Lorain County Community College History: Founding, Timeline, and Milestones". www.zippia.com. 2020-08-27. Retrieved 2022-10-03.
5. "Lorain County Community College names Marcia Ballinger next president | Ohio | morningjournal.com". www.morningjournal.com. Archived from the original on 2020-06-19.
6. Hannah Drown, cleveland com (2025-07-01). "In case you missed it: Lorain County Community College named among most affordable in US". cleveland. Retrieved 2025-11-07.
7. College, Lorain County Community. "LCCC Recognized as Top Community College in the Nation for Excellence in Student Success by American Association of Community Colleges". www.prnewswire.com. Retrieved 2020-06-18.
8. "LCCC Wins National Honor for Improving Student Success - Lorain County Community College". News. Retrieved 2020-06-18.
9. Valentino, Marilyn J. (2010). "2010 CCCC Chair's Address: Rethinking the Fourth C: Call to Action". College Composition and Communication. 62 (2). National Council of Teachers of English: 364–378.
10. Farkas, Karen (23 June 2017). "Lorain County Community College plans to be first in the state to offer a bachelor's degree". cleveland.com. Retrieved 13 September 2019.
11. Mangels, John (2009-06-18). "Fabrication labs let student and adult inventors create products, solve problems". Cleveland.com. The Plain Dealer. Retrieved 2013-09-23.
12. Stolberg, Sheryl (22 January 2010). "Obama vows to 'never stop fighting'". The Seattle Times via Google News. Archived from the original on 4 June 2011. Retrieved 27 January 2010.

41°24′46″N82°04′21″W / 41.412793°N 82.072621°W / 41.412793; -82.072621