This case study documents the transformation of Amarillo College (AC) from an institution with low retention and completion rates to a community college that has been recognized nationally for its innovative approach to improving student success. In the midst of a budget crisis, President Russell Lowery-Hart worked to both cut costs and streamline bureaucratic processes, while at the same time transforming systems and structures to improve outcomes for students and tackle the challenges of poverty that were holding students back. Facing declining enrollments, a nearly $4 million budget cut from the state, and told by the Board that tuition could not increase, Russell had to figure out a way to cut costs and simultaneously improve the College’s low completion and transfer rates.