The vision of a new community junior college in southwestern Kansas grew out of the Kansas Community Junior College Act of 1965 and the positive action of the board members of the Liberal Unified School District 480. On September 15, 1967, State Superintendent Kampschroeder gave his approval for Liberal's application for Seward County Community Junior College. The date of October 24, 1967 was set aside for a county wide election to determine whether the citizens wanted a community college. The final vote carried by a margin of 3.4 to 1.
The date of the Order of Establishment for Seward County Community Junior College was December 29, 1967. It was determined that classes could be offered after August 1, 1969. The college officially opened its doors to its first student body on September 2, 1969.
For 40 years, Seward County Community College (SCCC) and Southwest Kansas Area Technical School (SWKTS) operated separately. After legislative action directed technical schools to merge with a degree-granting institution, the USD 480 Board of Education and the SCCC Board of Trustees formally approved a consolidation agreement in February 2008. As stipulated in the agreement, SWKTS operations were consolidated with SCCC operations on July 1, 2008. From an initial enrollment of 331, the college has progressed to over 2,000 students.