CF Among Top Colleges in U.S., Eligible for Aspen Award
April 26, 2012
The College of Central Florida has been selected as one of only 120 colleges in the country to be eligible to receive funding from the Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence. This is the second year that CF has been deemed eligible for part of the $1 million prize.
“Recognition by the Aspen Institute demonstrates that CF is working diligently to provide the best educational opportunities possible for our community,” said Dr. James Henningsen, CF president. “We are looking forward to providing the additional documentation to show that we are among the best colleges in Florida and the nation.”
The Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence aims to identify and replicate campuswide practices that significantly improve college student outcomes. The 120 colleges were selected based on publicly available data and are among the top 10 percent of colleges in the country. CF will submit additional documentation by the May 25 deadline to compete for funding.
Each of the 120 colleges has demonstrated strong outcomes in three areas of student success, according to the Aspen Institute: student success in persistence, completion, and transfer; consistent improvement in outcomes over time; and equity in outcomes for students of all racial/ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds. The colleges will be winnowed to eight-to-ten finalists in September based on how much students learn, how many complete their programs on time, and how well students do in the job market after graduating.
“The success of our nation’s community colleges is more important than ever before,”
said Aspen Institute College Excellence Program Executive Director Josh Wyner, who announced the names of the 120 top community colleges at the annual convention of the American Association of Community Colleges in Orlando.
Some seven million students — youth and adult learners — enroll in America’s nearly 1,200 public and private community colleges every year. Nearly 1 million of those students are enrolled in the Florida College System which includes 14 of the institutions selected by the Aspen Institute. Valencia College in Orlando earned the top spot in 2011.
The Aspen Prize is funded by America Achieves, Bank of America Charitable Foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Joyce Foundation, JPMorgan Chase Foundation, W.K. Kellogg Foundation, and Lumina Foundation for Education.
