The Aspen Institute on Tuesday announced its list of 20 community colleges that are semi-finalists for the $1 million Aspen Prize. It will announce the 10 finalists in June.
The semi-finalists include several colleges that are perennial to the biennial list, previous finalists as well as colleges making the list for the first time. Three of the colleges are in Wisconsin. States that have two colleges on the list include California, Florida, Iowa and Texas.
The 20 colleges are:
- Broward College (Florida)
- Georgia Highlands College
- Kingsborough Community College (New York)
- MiraCosta College (California)
- Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College
- Moorpark College (California)
- North Iowa Area Community College
- Northeast Wisconsin Technical College
- Northwest Iowa Community College
- Northwest Vista College (Texas)
- San Jacinto College (Texas)
- Seminole State College of Florida
- South Puget Sound Community College (Washington)
- Southwest Wisconsin Technical College
- State Technical College of Missouri
- Trinidad State College (Colorado)
- Union College of Union County, NJ
- Wallace State Community College-Hanceville (Alabama)
- Western Technical College (Wisconsin)
- William Rainey Harper College (Illinois)
Seven of the colleges — Broward, Moorpark, Kingsborough, Northwest Iowa, San Jacinto, South Puget Sound and Southwest Wisconsin — were top 10 finalists for the 2023 award.
Awarded every two years since 2011, the prize recognizes outstanding institutions selected from a pool of more than 1,000 public community colleges nationwide. The winner will be announced in spring 2025.
