Allan Hancock College announced Oct. 11 that it was named, for the fourth time, one of the nation’s top 150 community colleges by the Aspen Institute, which began ranking community colleges in 2011. Hancock’s rank makes the school eligible for the 2019 Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence, which includes a $1 million reward.
The prize is awarded every two years, according to a Hancock press release, and recognizes institutions that show success in student learning, certificate and degree completion, employment and earnings, and high levels of access for minority and low-income students. Hancock and the other chosen schools were selected from a pool of nearly 1,000 public two-year colleges.
“We are grateful to be nominated once again for this prestigious award,” Hancock Superintendent and President Kevin Walthers said in the release. “This is tangible evidence of our faculty and staff commitment to changing the odds for our students.”
The Aspen Institute also chose Hancock as one of the nation’s top colleges in 2011, 2014, and 2016 through a process outlined by the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems and reviewed by an advisory committee. The data, according to the release, focuses on student retention and completion, mission, size, and minority representation.
The Aspen Institute, according to Executive Director of the College Excellence Program Josh Wyner, aims to identify and use practices that improve college student outcomes. Wyner also said in the release that the competition is meant to inspire other colleges to improve and succeed.
“Especially in the current social and economic climate,” Wyner said in the release, “it is exceptionally important that our nation’s community colleges develop the diverse talent needed to fuel democratic engagement, social mobility, and economic opportunity and growth.”
Hancock will now move to the next round of the competition, submitting an application for a place in the top 10 colleges, which will be chosen by the Aspen Institute. If chosen, Aspen employees will visit Hancock’s campus and a prize jury will select the $1 million winner. The top 10 finalists will be announced in May 2018.
