During the mid-1960s, ACJC began a process of name changes in an attempt to keep current with state legislation designed to spur growth of junior colleges and vocational schools in Kansas.

[4] In 1967, the citizens of Cowley County elected a six-member board of trustees for CCCC, and on July 1, it assumed control of college operations.

When he arrived at the college, it owned no property (the land on which the buildings stood was rented from the school district), and its program offerings were limited.

In 2017, Sumner County passed a half-cent sales tax increase to fund a second campus of Cowley College to be built in Wellington.

[5] On February 2, 2023, the Cowley College Board of Trustees voted unanimously to terminate President Randy Smith's contract.

Cowley College's Ireland Hall, was designed by architect Charles Sumner Sedgwick and constructed in 1890 as the Arkansas City High School.