Grand Rapids Community College

Grand Rapids Junior College was established on September 21, 1914, after University of Michigan faculty passed a resolution encouraging the establishment of junior colleges in Michigan. Grand Rapids Junior College was the first junior college in Michigan. The college operated out of Central High School, 421 Fountain St. NE, until 1924. The course offerings, based on University of Michigan offerings, were mathematics, history, rhetoric and composition, German, Latin, biology, and physics. All of them were focused on college transfer. The college's first graduating class numbered 49 students, who paid $60 per year for tuition. The following year, to encourage enrollment, tuition was reduced to $40 per year for Grand Rapids residents and $50 for nonresidents. In 1918 Grand Rapids Junior College received its initial accreditation from the North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools.
In 1944 the college acquired the Main Building from Grand Rapids Public Schools. Grand Rapids Public Schools Superintendent Arthur W. Krause closed Davis Technical High School to save costs and gave the building to Grand Rapids Junior College. The Main Building was renamed the Raleigh J. Finkelstein Hall in March 2019.

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