The District was established in 1922, and operates three Colleges: Cañada College, College of San Mateo and Skyline College. Located between San Francisco and Silicon Valley, the District Colleges provide community college educational services to residents of the County of San Mateo, California. Combined, the three Colleges of the District serve approximately 45,000 students annually and offer the first two years of college-level instruction in a wide variety of transfer programs as well as more than 90 vocational-technical programs. Students can earn either Associate in Arts or Science degrees or receive Certificates of Proficiency in their chosen fields. Distance education courses are available at all three Colleges as well as courses and programs serving concurrently enrolled students. Noncredit, short courses are offered for a fee through the Community Education Program.Each College is fully accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, the recognized local accrediting agency for the western United States.The District is governed by a six-member Board of Trustees, with five voting members elected at large by County voters for four-year terms and one nonvoting student member elected by students for a one-year term. The day-to-day operations are managed by the Board-appointed Chancellor.The District's primary service area is San Mateo County and its boundaries are coterminous with those of the County. Rural coast side communities, suburbs and high-tech urban cities on the Peninsula exist within a half-hour drive from one another. Recent demographic trends in the service area mimic those of the State: the students are becoming more diverse in their ethnic backgrounds, age, education preparedness and life goals. Current regional challenges impacting the Colleges include an increasing income gap, a predicted decline in the number of high school graduates, and the absence of a major public university in the area.