The use of the Internet has resulted in the birth of an innovative virtualization technology called cloud computing. Virtualization can tremendously improve the instructional and operational systems of a community college. Although the incidental adoption of the cloud solutions in the community colleges of higher education has been increased, research of the literature indicates that limited studies were conducted on offering strategies on the planned and effective adoption of cloud-based technologies in a community college. This dissertation employs a qualitative methodology to examine the effective strategies for a community college transition into a cloud-computing environment. As a result of this study, 12 themes emerged that provide exploratory insights of strategic adoption of the cloud-based solutions to the hesitant, uncertain IT managers of the community colleges. The study themes include the cloud cost, the security concerns of the cloud, the cloud service providers and the contract, cloud consortium, and the cloud recommendation. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]