Counseling/Career Center 507-285-7260 The Counseling and Career Center assists students with a variety of issues including career and educational planning, academic difficulties, goal setting, or personal concerns.

International Student Services 507-280-5511 International Student Services provides information on visa and immigration regulations, assistance in the enrollment process, orientation to RCTC and the Rochester community as well as academic advising.

Security507-280-5050 Rochester Community and Technical College Campus Safety/Security provide escort service during hours of darkness for persons walking on campus. To request an escort, call 280-5050.

Student Support Services (SSS) Program 507-285-7230 The SSS program provides a range of services that include academic assistance and advising, transfer planning, career information, test accommodations, and one-on-one peer tutoring.

Welcome and One Stop Center 507-285-7557 The Welcome and One Stop Center assists prospective students by providing information about the college and scheduling campus visits, the academic skills assessment, orientation activities, and assisting with current student enrollment.

Rochester Community and Technical College (RCTC) is the oldest public two-year college in Minnesota. The junior college was created on a motion by Dr. Charles Mayo in 1915 and classes were offered downtown in the Coffman Building. The College moved to its current campus during the summer of 1968. A year later the vocational-technical institute was created with 15 program offerings. Rochester Community and Technical College was established on July 1, 1996 when legislation required state community colleges and technical colleges co-located in the same city be merged into a consolidated college.

Rochester Community and Technical College is a member of the Minnesota State system, which comprises 30 two-year colleges and seven state universities serving the higher education needs of Minnesota and is governed by a Board of Trustees. Minnesota State (an agency of the state of Minnesota) is dedicated to providing students with a wide array of opportunities for lifelong education in both technical and academic fields, ranging from short-course certificates to doctoral degrees. Minnesota States 54 campuses in 47 communities throughout the state offer tremendous opportunities for students to achieve their goals.

Located in Minnesotas third-largest and fastest-growing city, RCTCs 518-acre campus serves as a hub for the education and workforce development needs of the region. Our mission is to provide accessible, affordable, quality learning opportunities to serve a diverse and growing community, and our vision states Rochester Community and Technical College will be a universal gateway to world-class learning opportunities.

The college enrolls approximately 7,000 students annually in credit-based programs. Another 3,000 are served in noncredit and credit-based workforce initiatives. The College is home to nearly 600 full-time and part-time employees including faculty, staff, and administration.

Rochester Community and Technical College offers 70 credit-based programs with more than 130 credential options in the areas of liberal arts, allied health, business, services, and technical career pathways. The Colleges largest programs include liberal arts, nursing, allied health, and business. A variety of delivery approaches are utilized to support student learning. These include face-to-face, online, internships, on-the-job training, clinical, cohort, and interactive television. RCTC is among Minnesota States largest generators of online learning credits in the system which now accounts for nearly 19 percent of credits sold. A variety of educational partnerships are also in place to provide learning opportunities for our students. These include diverse articulation agreements with other higher education providers and affiliate programs with the Mayo Clinic School of Health Sciences. In addition, students wishing to finish a four-year degree can take their first two years at Rochester Community and Technical College-earning an associate degree-and then transfer to finish a bachelors degree. The College has teamed up with Winona State University Rochester to establish the Path to Purple program that allows students to complete their first two years at RCTC to earn an associate degree and then complete their last two years at WSU to attain a bachelors degree.

In addition to its educational programming, RCTC offers a comprehensive student life program. These opportunities include social activities, speakers, varsity athletics, intramural sports, honor societies, and music, to name a few.

Four buildings were ready for use when the college made its 1968 move to the forested hillside about a mile east of the city. The structures included Goddard Library and classroom buildings; Endicott Hall for technology and business classes; the Charles Singley building, housing all chemistry, biology, and physics labs, as well as lecture halls; and the Administration building, which then held administrative offices and the college bookstore. The next additions to the campus were Rockenbach, a gymnasium/physical education complex, and Plaza West, which now contains faculty offices, numerous classrooms, the student newspaper office, and a 200-seat lecture hall.

The campus continued to grow with three more additions marking the next phase of construction. A student services building housing the administrative offices, the counseling center, and a health service area was first. The art building came next, representing one of the most outstanding studio facilities of its kind in the upper Midwest; an immense north window in the structure provides proper lighting to three floors of studios. The Plaza East building completed this segment of construction. It provides a versatile nursing lab and staff offices. The next two major projects were the College Center and theater. As the student union, the Center is aptly named, since it is at the center of students lives here. The college theater is one of the finest such facilities in southeastern Minnesota. It seats 350 persons and contains advanced electronic and sound systems, as well as a complete scene-making shop and dressing rooms. In 1987, it was named Hill Theater in honor of retired RCC President Charles E. Hill, who served the college from 1953 to 1982.

Fall 2021 brought a new partnership and 70 new high school students to the RCTC campus through the PTECH-535 collaboration. PTECH is an education to career pathway program for high school students focusing on in-demand fields. Students enrolled in PTECH-535 will earn high school and college credits, and will graduate with a college degree in either Information Technology or Practical Nursing. The RPS/RCTC PTECH school is the first one in Minnesota.

The original buildings located at the Heintz Center were completed in 1969. Additions were made in 1976, 1978, and 1979, which doubled the size of the cafeteria, added classrooms, and expanded shops for the technical programs. The Horticulture Technology Center was added to the existing buildings in 2002 to provide academic and community resources in a horticulture facility. Intercampus roads were also completed in 2002, connecting RCTC east buildings and RCTC west buildings (the Heintz Center), and included the first roundabouts in Minnesota. The former Minnesota Riverland Technical College-Rochester Campus facility was dedicated as Heintz Center on May 9, 1997. The building was named after Dr. Emil Heintz, founder and first Director of Rochester Area Vocational Technical Institute. Dr. Heintz served as Director from 1966 to 1973. Dr. Heintz had served as Dean (CEO) of Brainerd Junior College from 1938 to 1944 and Dean of Rochester Junior College from 1944 until 1966. Heintz Center is located at 1926 College View Road. Most recently, the Heintz Center underwent additional expansion with the Workforce Center/CareerForce addition which opened in the Fall of 2014, and the CTECH/STEM Village building, also funded through local sales tax funding, opened in August of 2016.