Congratulations to the finalists for the 2025 Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence!
The Aspen Institute has just named the 10 finalists for the 2025 Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence. The $1 million award is the nation’s signature recognition of strong performance among community colleges. The institutions selected for this honor stand out among more than 1,000 community colleges nationwide as having high and improving levels of student success, as well as equitable outcomes for Black and Hispanic students and those from lower-income backgrounds.
Awarded every two years, the Aspen Prize honors colleges with outstanding performance in six critical areas: teaching and learning, certificate and degree completion, transfer and bachelor’s attainment, workforce success, broad access to the college and its offerings, and equitable outcomes for students of color and students from low-income backgrounds. The winner will be announced in the spring of 2025.
Josh Wyner, executive director of the Aspen Institute College Excellence Program, noted the Aspen Prize finalists not only deserve national recognition, but they also need to be studied and their successes replicated.
“Working-class Americans are experiencing an economy that seems to be stacked against them, while employers are struggling to find well-prepared workers in fields such as teaching, nursing, software development, welding, and advanced manufacturing,” Wyner said. “The 10 Aspen Prize finalists demonstrate how community colleges serving urban and rural communities throughout the country can prepare many more graduates for fulfilling lives and careers in their communities. They show that excellence can be reached in any and every context.”
The finalists are:
Blog Posts Archives UnfavoriteFavorite October 26, 2026 Financial Security Program Kira Tebbe Senior Manager, Benefits Transformation Initiative Tim Shaw Director,...
As more advisors move toward fee-based, planning-driven relationships with clients, a familiar blind spot persists across many books of business:...
Applying for a loan is stressful enough without worrying that a lender may not be treating you fairly. Some lending...
