Celebrate With Us
We hope you’ll join us at one of the many 60th anniversary events planned throughout 2026.
Transforming Lives for 60 Years
Bellevue College is celebrating its 60th anniversary in 2026. The college was founded to address the higher educational goals and workforce needs of the expanding Eastside communities. As the Eastside region grew into a national center for technology, healthcare, and business, the college rose alongside. Witness and experience the transformation through a series of stories, historical photos, events, giving opportunities, and other ways to come together as a community. We hope you’ll join us during this milestone year recognizing 60 years of transforming lives.
Bellevue College's History
Huge Impact
Founded on January 3, 1966, Bellevue College has grown significantly from its early days in borrowed classrooms and portables at Newport High School. The college campus opened three years later in 1969 with 2,200 full time students. Now 100 acres large and the third-highest enrolled college in Washington state with nearly 20,000 students, Bellevue College is consistently ranked the best college for salary potential, best in Washington state for a student’s 10-year return on investment among public colleges,
College on the Eastside
Bellevue College’s success today is testament to the excitement and passion of the Eastside community’s desire to bring a community college to Bellevue in the early 1960s. The multi-year campaign to the Washington State Legislature to approve Bellevue as the next location for a community college was buoyed by the fact that hopeful students camped out over night to enroll in classes. Students were hungry to learn then as they are today.
A Dedication to Higher Education
Since then, Bellevue College has transformed hundreds of thousands of students’ lives, whether it be big or small, over the past 60 years. But we also acknowledge and honor the faculty, staff, and administrators who dedicated their lives to open access education and learning that allowed those students to break down barriers. Because we know Bellevue College is more than the walls in a classroom and a campus on a map, it’s the people who show up each and every day and care.
60th Anniversary Videos
Get Involved
The BC Foundation is dedicated to removing barriers to student success and does this in many ways, including by raising funds, by administering grants and scholarships, and by providing educational program support. Our work would not be possible without support from our community.
Contact:
Bellevue College Foundation
foundation@bellevuecollege.edu
425-564-2386