The school serves 7,000 students each year from its five-county district, which includes Baker, Columbia, Dixie, Gilchrist and Union counties.

[3] At the conclusion of World War II, the Lake City Naval Air Station was decommissioned and the Columbia Forestry School (CFS) was established in 1947, utilizing military structures that remained.

The first few years had extremely low enrollment and meager funding, causing the school's president to request help from the Florida Legislature.

[4] The "Junior" was dropped and the word, "Community" was placed in the college's name in 1970 to emphasize that the school offered occupational and cultural enrichment education for area residents.

By removing community from their name, or substituting state, the college would be eligible to add bachelor's degree programs on a limited basis.

[5] FGC occupies 132 acres (53 ha) of natural pinelands, with over twenty-five buildings landscaped with native azalea bushes and crepe myrtle trees.

[7] FGC operates 3 satellite locations (Macclenny, Cross City & Bell) in the surrounding counties included in the college's service area.

At these "storefront centers", local residents can attend live classes, take distance learning courses or talk to advisors via the internet and pick up brochures, catalogs, schedules, and forms.

[12] Forest Technology, which includes training in timber cruising & surveying, wood procurement and logging operations, was offered at the college for over 60 years.

[4] Over the years, technology reduced the number of jobs available in forestry, and by the mid-1990s, there were fewer than 30 students, so the program was scaled back and moved to the Golf Landscape Operations department.

Ten years later, enrollment had fallen to just over 20, which did not justify two instructors, so one left and the program was changed back to a one-year certificate in Forest Operations.

[14] The three-year curriculum is the only accredited program of its kind in the U.S. and includes two paid summer internships between challenging academic semesters.

The School of Public Service provides CDL training in addition to courses for emergency medical technicians, paramedics, firemen, and correction officers.

There are intramurals in Basketball, Flag Football, Ping Pong, Spades Tournament, Billiards, Volleyball, Soccer and Dodgeball.

The reasons given were financial, including expected reductions in state funding, lower enrollment, program cutbacks after the Florida Department of Corrections withdrew its training courses, athletic dormitory and food service costs and the prospect of making similar cuts in the next school year.