The IBHE was tasked by statute with formulating a Master Plan for Higher Education in the state of Illinois.
[9][10] In July 1964 the higher education master plan was published by the IBHE, which led to the Junior College Act of 1965.
Vernon Township High School and its faculty served as the initial facilities for the college when it began in 1967.
[1] Soon after its organization, the RLC Board of Trustees selected a 350-acre (1.4 km2) site near Ina, Illinois, located between Interstate 57 and Rend Lake, and began planning a new campus.
Rend Lake College provides a library within its Learning Resources Center at its main Ina, Illinois Campus.
The library has 21,000 volumes, and 145 periodical and newspaper titles alongside online resources and a media learning area.
It has facilities for study, research, leisure reading, class preparation, and wireless Internet access for students.
[24] The goal of the foundation is to support Rend Lake College activities through fundraising and endowment management.
[27] The RLC College Bowl, an academic club, competes with other schools in the Southern Illinois Collegiate Common Market (SICCM) conference.
[29] In addition, the campus has an active chapter of Phi Theta Kappa (ΦΘΚ) the international honor society for two-year colleges and academic programs.
However, both the track and cross-country programs were suspended effective March 10, 2015 due to high travel costs and the inability to find nearby competitors.
[34] In other sports, the Warriors won the NJCAA Division II title in men's basketball in 2013 and qualified for the national championships in women's golf 11 times between 2000 and 2012, with a best finish of fourth place in 2005.
[36] The main campus also houses an active Theater, which hosts numerous student-organized productions throughout the year.
[37] An extension of the theater department is the Thespians, a student-led improvisational troop that performs at local area cultural events.
The main campus of Rend Lake College in Ina is served by South Central Transit.