Posted: October 31, 2023Written by: Ritchie Bermudez

WASHINGTON D.C. – Today, the Aspen Institute named Cuesta College as one of the 150 institutions eligible to compete for the $1 million Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence, the nation's signature recognition of high achievement and performance among two-year 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.

“At the heart of Cuesta College’s mission is the relentless pursuit of brighter futures and equitable outcomes for each student that we serve,” said Cuesta College Superintendent / President Dr. Jill Stearns. “Our inclusion among the Aspen Prize Top 150 Community Colleges for 2025 stands as a testament to the extraordinary commitment of our faculty and classified professionals. This is an amazing recognition of Cuesta’s strong and improving student success and graduation rates.”

The Aspen Prize spotlights exemplary community colleges in order to drive attention to colleges achieving post-graduate success for all students, and is a central way Aspen researches highly effective student success strategies that are shared with the field. The 150 eligible colleges have been invited to submit student success data and narratives about strategies to achieve better and more equitable student outcomes as the next step in an intensive review process that culminates in the naming of the Aspen Prize winner in spring 2025. The eligible colleges represent the diversity and depth of the community college sector. Located in urban, rural, and suburban areas across 30 states, these colleges serve as few as 169 students and as many as 49,619. 

Cuesta College is one of California’s leading community colleges dedicated to providing high-quality learning opportunities to over 10,000 students in the San Luis Obispo County region. The college is a Hispanic-Serving Institution and was named a 2021 Equity Champion for Excellence by demonstrating exemplary work in supporting Latinx students on their paths to completing a bachelor’s degree. In the 2022-23 academic year, Cuesta College had 6,077 Latinx students, representing 36.3% of the student population.

“The Aspen Prize is rooted first and foremost in an assessment of whether colleges are walking the walk,” said Josh Wyner, executive director of the Aspen Institute College Excellence Program. “As community colleges face enrollment variations, enroll students with pandemic-related learning loss, and graduate students into a rapidly changing labor market, it is easy to lose track of what matters most.  The best community colleges are continuing to focus on advancing the core mission: making sure as many students as possible graduate with credentials that lead to fulfilling careers and reflect the development of diverse talent that communities, states, and our nation need.” 

While community colleges are an essential contributor to our nation’s success, student outcomes vary substantially among institutions. Aspen measures those variances using multiple data sources and honors colleges with outstanding achievement in six critical areas: teaching and learning, certificate and degree completion, transfer and bachelor’s attainment, workforce success, equitable access to the college, and equitable outcomes for students of color and students from low-income backgrounds.

“These 150 colleges have achieved high and improving levels of student success for all students, including those who are often failed by our institutions,” Wyner said. “We’re excited to learn over the coming months how they achieved that success so we can share the most impressive practices with others in the field.” 

In this first round, eligibility for the Aspen Prize is based on publicly available data. Colleges must show strong, improving, and equitable student outcomes in first-to-second year retention, credentials awarded, and completion and transfer rates. Nationwide, about 15 percent of community colleges have been invited to apply (150 of just under 1,000 public two-year colleges assessed for Prize eligibility). The full list can be accessed on the Prize homepage.

The next steps in the process include:

  • April 2024: Announcement of 25 semifinalists, selected based on assessments of extensive data and strategy documents by the Prize selection panel, a group of 16 experts in community colleges, higher education, and workforce training, and interviews with institutional leadership teams
  • June 2024: Announcement of 10 finalists, selected by the Prize selection panel
  • Fall 2024:  Site visits to each of the ten finalists, during which the Aspen Institute and partners will collect additional information, including employment and earnings data and insights about promising practices
  • January 2025: Prize award decisions made by distinguished, independent Prize jury at full-day meeting
  • Spring 2025:  Announcement of the Aspen Prize winner and celebration of the 10 finalists in Washington DC

For a full list of the top 150 eligible institutions and to read more on the selection process, visit
https://highered.aspeninstitute.org/aspen-prize/.