The college's 120-acre (49 ha) campus includes an arboretum, a mill pond, and a working gristmill constructed by students.

The partnership, created by state legislation, enables students to concurrently obtain a high school diploma and complete an associate degree program within four or five years.

All HEC faculty members commit to ensuring every student is actively engaged, challenged, and supported in all classes, every day, to succeed in rigorous coursework.

HEC's ultimate goal is for each student to successfully complete the early college program with his/her high school diploma, Associate degree, and continue on to a four-year university.

The arboretum was laid out by Asheville landscape architect Doan Ogden for industrialist A. L. Freedlander, who donated the college's initial funding provided that the site's oak forest be preserved.