Aspen used this unique data set to determine the 120 top U.S. community colleges that are eligible for the Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence, chosen from over 1,000 public U.S. community colleges. These institutions earned their invitation to apply for the Prize by demonstrating strong performance and improvement in (1) first-year retention rate, (2) three-year graduation and transfer rate, and (3) credentials awarded per 100 “full-time equivalent” (FTE) students, including for underrepresented minority and low income students. To learn more about these metrics, please see the press release or Round I model description.
Aspen used this unique data set to determine the 120 top U.S. community colleges that are eligible for the Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence, chosen from over 1,000 public U.S. community colleges. These institutions earned their invitation to apply for the Prize by demonstrating strong performance and improvement in (1) first-year retention rate, (2) three-year graduation and transfer rate, and (3) credentials awarded per 100 “full-time equivalent” (FTE) students, including for underrepresented minority and low income students. To learn more about these metrics, please see the press release or 
