Josephine County voters approved the establishment of Rogue Community College (RCC) in 1970. The college now has three comprehensive campuses, serving Josephine and Jackson counties. The original campus, known as the Redwood Campus, is located five miles west of Grants Pass on a site that housed the Fort Vannoy Job Corps Training Center in the late 1960s.

When RCC’s service area was expanded to include Jackson County in 1966, the Riverside Campus was opened in downtown Medford. In 2005, White City became home to the Table Rock Campus, which offers several technical programs, including diesel technology, electronics, landscaping, and commercial truck driving. RCC also has several business, learning, and workforce training centers.

All three campuses have undergone extensive expansion and renovation. The Redwood Campus is now comprised of more than 215,000 square feet, including modern laboratories. The most recent institutional expansion occurred in the fall of 2008 when the Medford campus added a Higher Education Center (HEC), which is owned and operated jointly with Southern Oregon University (SOU). The HEC facility offers both RCC and SOU courses. Governor Ted Kulongoski praised the collaborative effort in August 2008 as an example he hopes “others will follow. It shows a strong commitment to meet Oregon’s diverse educational needs.”

RCC and the Jackson County Library System (JCLS) established another important collaboration when JCLS agreed to provide a dedicated space in the county's new Medford library building for RCC's books and services.

RCC’s motto is, “Life’s Best Lessons Start Here.” In 2009, the college had more than 17,500 students.