Ланкастер қаласындағы Antelope Valley колледжі

Community college in Lancaster, California

Antelope Valley College (AVC) is a public community college in Lancaster, California. It is part of the California Community College system. It is operated by the Antelope Valley Community College District, with a primary service area of 1945 square miles (5,038 km2) covering portions of Los Angeles and Kern counties. Instruction is offered at several sites, including Palmdale and Lancaster, and through online and instructional television courses. The college offers Associate in Arts and Associate in Science degrees in 71 fields as well as certificate programs in 59 vocational areas. The main campus in Lancaster hosts the satellite location of California State University, Bakersfield Antelope Valley (CSUB AV), where students can obtain bachelor's and master's degrees in select subjects.

The institution began classes on September 10, 1929, as a department of Antelope Valley High School in Lancaster. It was established as Antelope Valley Junior College, providing the first two years of a college education for those living in what was then a remote, rural area. The name was later modified to Antelope Valley College to reflect it comprehensive nature. The average daily attendance at the college was 13 during the 1929–30 school year. There was little growth in enrollment at the college during the depression years that followed. Alfalfa farmers in Antelope Valley were hard hit during the 1930s, and the smallest junior college in California suffered serious financial difficulties. Teachers took a 20 percent cut in salaries, which ranged from a state mandated minimum of $1,350 a year to a $1,595 maximum. Average daily attendance (ADA) at the college reached 100 by 1939, but with World War II, attendance plummeted. Attendance reached a low of 13 during the war, the same ADA as the year the school was founded. There were pressures to close the junior college, but trustees and staff held out until veterans returned from the war. Enrollment grew steadily during the postwar years, partly because of the GI Bill of Rights and partly because Antelope Valley began developing an aircraft industry. In 1959, groundbreaking was held for a new college campus on at Avenue K and 30th Street West, designed by the architect Henry L. Gogerty (1894 1990). The college campus has expanded to approximately through land purchases.

The college maintains a temporary leased site in the City of Palmdale, which serves nearly 2,000 students. Plans call for creation of a full campus on of land in southern Palmdale on 25th Street East, south of Avenue S. College officials are working toward a sustainable enrollment of 1,000 full time equivalent students to qualify Palmdale for center status—a key step in developing a permanent campus. Officials in April 2009 expressed their intent to submit an initial project proposal for a campus to the state in June 2010.

The college's athletic teams are known as the Marauders. The college currently fields eight men's and eight women's varsity teams. It competes as a member of the California Community College Athletic Association (CCCAA) in the Western State Conference (WSC) for all sports except football, which competes in Southern California Football Association (SCFA).