Like most community colleges, it emphasizes associate degree-level classes but it also offers some third- and fourth-year college-level courses as well through arrangements with other institutions.

[2] Approximately 700 students enrolled for the school's first classes which began on October 2, 1967, and took place at North Cleveland Baptist Church, due to a delay in the completion of the campus.

[5] The 105-acre (42 ha) sits on the eastern foot of Candies Creek Ridge in northern Cleveland near Interstate 75.

The campus has 10 major buildings housing modern classrooms, laboratories, and student activity centers.

Additional features include a library, a multi-media center of emphasis, computer laboratories, a 400-seat theatre, a 3,000-seat gymnasium, athletic fields and tennis courts, a large reflector telescope, and a satellite downlink receiver which enables the college to serve as a site for many teleconferences.

[6] Cleveland State offers classes throughout the service area in southeast Tennessee, which includes Bradley, Meigs, McMinn, Monroe, and Polk counties.

Cleveland State Community college operates within the governance of the Tennessee Board of Regents.