Austin Community College (ACC) serves over 70,000 students across 11 campuses in Central Texas. With a growing student population and a bold mission of access and inclusion, the college faced mounting challenges in maintaining consistency, clarity, and connection across its operations.

Processes varied widely by department and campus. Communications were decentralized, with students receiving conflicting information at critical moments. While staff worked hard within their own units, systems were often misaligned, and students experienced a fragmented journey from inquiry to enrollment.

ACC partnered with Swim to identify the root causes behind these breakdowns and design a cohesive student experience that was clear, coordinated, and scalable across the institution. 

Swim began by examining the full landscape of enrollment, marketing, and communications. Building on previous Secret Student analysis and onboarding audits, the team expanded its scope to include process reviews, stakeholder interviews, and marketing data analysis.

This holistic environmental analysis surfaced key insights:

These insights formed the foundation for process reengineering and communications design that would align the student journey across every phase of enrollment.

Swim guided ACC through a redesign of its recruitment and onboarding systems, aligning student engagement with institutional goals.

By the end of the engagement, ACC had:

The foundation laid by Swim enabled ACC to transition from disconnected systems to a shared enrollment ecosystem grounded in evidence, empathy, and efficiency. In Fall 2025 and Spring 2026, ACC sat a record number of students, 43,000 and 40,000, respectively.

This work at Austin Community College embodies Swim’s mission to eradicate generational poverty by transforming how students experience education. When enrollment systems are unclear, students pay the price. When communication is fragmented, trust is lost. Swim helped ACC reimagine these systems, not as administrative tasks, but as student-centered tools for access, belonging, and completion.

By aligning people, processes, and platforms around one unified journey, ACC is building a future where every learner feels informed, supported, and ready to succeed.