Reading Area Community College (RACC) is a public community college located in Reading, Pennsylvania, USA. The college was founded in 1971 and serves the greater Reading area and Berks County, Pennsylvania. Reading Area Community College was founded on October 1, 1971, and sponsored for 20 years by the Reading School District. Classes were held for the first time on October 13, 1971, with an enrollment of 265 students. The college operated from several buildings throughout Reading during its early years until it acquired the Holiday Inn (the current Berks Hall building) in 1978. On July 1, 1991, the Berks County Board of Commissioners assumed sponsorship of the college. In 1996, the college completed a campus expansion plan that transformed it into an attractive city-based campus. In 1963, Pennsylvania passed legislation authorizing the development of a statewide system of comprehensive community colleges. The legislation states that community colleges should be locally controlled, responsive to the educational and training needs of the areas they serve, geographically accessible to students and have low tuition.