Oregon Coast Community College

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Oregon Coast Community College (OCCC) is a community college in Oregon, serving students in Lincoln County. Located in Newport, OCCC has approximately 3,000 students and a faculty of 45 people. Of the 17 community colleges in Oregon, only Klamath Community College is younger, and only Tillamook Bay Community College has fewer students.

OCCC offers the only Aquarium Science Program in the United States. The classes are taught at the nearby Hatfield Marine Science Center, but a special building on the college's 28-acre campus to teach this curriculum in is currently in the planning stages.

[edit] History

OCCC held its first classes in 1987, meeting in whatever spare space the staff could find. "You could be teaching in a church basement, fire station, real estate office," college president Patrick O'Connor recalled.^[1] The following year, OCCC found a permanent home in a building formerly known as "Jake's High Tide Bar".

In 2004, local voters approved a $23.5 million bond levy, which is being used to build three buildings between Newport and Waldport. According to president O'Connor, the three buildings are necessary due to Lincoln County's size and weather can make driving treacherous during the winter months.