1965. On July 1, 1977, Atlantic Community College established the Casino Career Institute to support the development of casinos in Atlantic City. Opening in 1978 in Atlantic City, it was the first gaming school in the United States affiliated with a college. Officials from Atlantic County bought a former Atlantic City Electric building in Atlantic City in Spring 1982. After a $4 million expansion project, the building opened, housing the Casino Career Institute. There was originally no community college in Cape May County, due to insufficient population; as of 1973, the New Jersey Department of Higher Education had a policy that required a county population base of at least 125,000 to be economically sustainable. In 1973, Atlantic Community College began offering night classes in Cape May Court House at Middle Township High School. Due to increased demand, the college opened the Cape May County Extension Center in 1980, where it accounted for 21% of the total enrollment. The facility later moved to a strip mall in Rio Grande. For 20 years, Cape May County officials subsidized the cost for students to attend Atlantic Community College or Cumberland County College, estimated at $2 million per year. By the 1990s, Cape May County was the last in the state without a community college. In 1993, supporters of a local college sent a formal request to the New Jersey State Department of Higher Education. Freeholder candidate and future state senator Jeff Van Drew campaigned on a county college in 1994. In 1995, the state denied a request for an independent college in Cape May, instead urging the county to partner with a neighboring county college, which would allow for immediate accreditation. Cape May County requested to join Atlantic Community College in February 1997, which was approved on January 1, 1999. One month later, the institute's Board of Trustees approved changing the name to Atlantic Cape Community College. After delays and permit acquisition, the Cape May County campus opened to a ribbon-cutting ceremony on August 24, 2005; classes began 13 days later. In 2000, the United States Environmental Protection Agency awarded Atlantic Cape an Energy Star rating after the college enacted energy efficient projects at its three campuses, such as eliminating Chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) from cooling systems, removing underground storage tanks, and installing motion detectors in its lighting systems. The college added four solar panels Photovoltaic systems in parking lots at the Mays Landing and