Most courses taken within the district are meant to apply for associate degrees, which help students qualify for jobs or can be transferred to four-year institutions.

In 1972, however, an alternative proposal that would allow the new college to be operated (and funded) by Austin Independent School District won a majority of voters' support.

In 1981, the school administration petitioned voters in Travis County to make ACC a county-wide public college with its own taxing authority and to permit it to issue bonds to fund facility expansions and renovations.

[5] The system's service area has grown steadily across its history as surrounding regions have agreed to be annexed into the tax district in return for in-district tuition for their residents.

The Rio Grande Campus, the system's second, was opened downtown in 1975 in the building recently vacated by Austin High School.

[12] The school also facilitates transfer of core curriculum credits to bachelor's degree programs at four-year institutions; tuition costs for two years of study at ACC are significantly lower than those at major Texas public universities, leading many students complete basic course work at ACC before transferring as a way of reducing college costs.