About

Parkland College, located in Champaign, offers over 100 associate's degree and certificate programs. A list of majors and programs is available here. Courses can be taken online, on campus, and as hybrid classes (a combination of online and on campus). Tuition varies depending on where a student lives.

In addition to their degree and certificate programs, Parkland Community College's Adult Education offers free GED preparation classes and ESL classes to adult learners, ages 16 and up, who are located in the Parkland District #505. (Click here for a map of the district.)​ The college also sponsors​ Project READ, a free tutoring service for adult learners, ages 16 and up, who would like help with reading, writing, and/or English language learning.  Project READ tutoring is available on Parkland’s campus or in other public locations (such as churches and libraries) throughout Parkland District #505.​

History (by Jody Littleton)

On March 12, 1966 area residents voted overwhelmingly in favor of a Class I Junior College and Parkland College and District 505 were born. Until Parkland College's permanent campus opened in the Fall of 1973, classes were held in downtown Champaign at temporary sites. The first semester, Fall 1967, the line for registration extended out the door, as 1,338 students registered for classes. These students paid $4.50 per credit hour for tuition. One year later Parkland College graduated 20 students who had completed one-year certificates in career programs. Twenty different sites were proposed for the location of Parkland's permanent campus. Because of its central location on the district map, the present site on Bradley Avenue in Champaign was selected for the permanent campus. Ernest Kump, the architect of the campus, was from a firm based in Palo Alto, California. Kump referred to his design as an "educational Village" and recommended subdued lighting to give the feeling of a living room. In 1979, Parkland College was featured in an exhibit at the New York Museum of Modern Art to highlight outstanding architectural designs. Groundbreaking for the permanent campus began in July 1970 and Parkland's permanent campus officially opened three years later in Fall of 1973. Later additions to the campus included the Physical Education Building in 1976, playing fields in 1980, the South Building in 1983, the A Wing in 1984, and Parkland's Theatre and the William M. Staerkel Planetarium in 1987. In 1995 the Child Development Center facility opened, accommodating 85 children of Parkland students, staff and community members. In 2001 the Tony Noel Agriculture Applications Technology Center and the D wing of the college were completed. Today Parkland College is again in a growing phase. The Parkland College campus was constructed in 1973 to serve about 9,000 students a year. Today, it serves more than 21,000, creating a shorttall of usable space for programs and services. These space deficits were noted as far back as 14 years ago during a national organization's evaluation of the campus. Because of these deficits Parkland President Dr. Tom Ramage and the Parkland Board of Trustees updated the College's Master Plan in 2008 and are actively pursuing funding for several new buildings and renovations to the existing campus. One of the new buildings currently in the preliminary planning stages is the Applied Technology Center. The auto collision repair program has increased by 26 percent with 411 enrollments in fiscal year 2007 and the Ford Asset automotive courses have seen a S3 percent increase with 208 enrolled during the same period. Parkland has accommodated this enrollment growth by housing classes in temporary or inadequate on-campus structures or off-campus leased space. Thus, the construction of the Applied Technology Center will eliminate approximately 28,800 square feet of temporary space, which is old and inefficient to operate, and will consolidate the programs, which increases the educational benefits to the students and decreases the operational expenses to the college. Also being planned is a Student Services Center. In addition to adding valuable classroom space, the new facility would create a onestop student success center, centralizing and streamlining all aspects of student services from recruiting and placement testing to graduation and transfer counseling. Other projects in the plan include a Fine & Applied Arts addition, Theatre addition and many deferred maintenance projects such as roof replacement, elevator and laboratory upgrades. For more information on the Parkland Master Plan and building updates go to http://www2. parkland.edu/masterplan/index.html. Parkland has delivered vocational-technical and academic instruction to more than 230,000 students since its classes began in 1967, according to 2009 data. The majority of these students continue to live and work in the East Central Illiqois area after graduation. Parkland College will continue to work closely with local businesses and community members to fulfill its mission and meet the needs of the local community. Thank you to Parkland College Library Archives for photos and content for this article.

This organization participated in a UIUC study on community technology use. For more on that see Study of UC2B Anchor Institutions' Technology Use