Hudson County Community College

Hudson County Community College is an accredited, co-educational, two-year, public, community college located in Hudson County, New Jersey. Under grants from the Exxon Educational Foundation and Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education, feasibility studies were conducted by each group in 1972 and 1973, respectively. The results from the study showed that there was a need for a community college in Hudson County. Around the same time, the Community Action Program stated a need for a higher education center in the North Hudson area. This led to the establishment of the Hudson Higher Education Consortium, which included three Hudson County based post-secondary institutions: Saint Peter's College in Jersey City, Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken and New Jersey City University in Jersey City. Resulting from an act in New Jersey legislation[6] that allowed a county lacking a community college to establish a commission on community college, the school opened its doors in September 1974 as the first "contract" college in New Jersey, and the second in the United States. As the third higher-education institution in Jersey City, the College began by offering educational programs that were reflective of the current job market, and the curriculum provided students with career and occupational oriented certifications and Associate degrees in Applied Science. In the spring of 1981, the college was accredited by the Commission on Higher Education of the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools, and its official name became the Hudson County Community College.