Tri-C Receives Second Aspen Prize Honor

Award regarded as nation’s signature recognition for community colleges

For the second straight time, Cuyahoga Community College (Tri-C^®) has been recognized as a member of the Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence Top 150 list.

The biennial Aspen Prize Top 150 — awarded by the Aspen Institute — is considered the signature recognition for high achievement and performance among American community colleges. Tri-C was the only Ohio school named to the newly released Top 150 list.

This distinction makes the College eligible to compete for the $1 million Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence, the winner of which will be announced in spring 2023.

Selection was based on student outcomes that include learning, completion rates, employment rates, earnings and equity. The Aspen Institute reviewed data from a pool of more than 1,000 public two-year colleges.

“The Aspen Prize Top 150 is among the highest honors any community college can receive,” said Tri-C President Alex Johnson. “The fact that we have now been able to garner this honor twice in a row shows how consistently high our performance is as an institution and how committed everyone at Tri-C is to maintaining those standards.”

Josh Wyner, executive director of the Aspen Institute, notes that institutions who appear on the Top 150 list all recognize the need for expanding educational access to all students, regardless of background or means — something on which Tri-C has focused under Johnson’s leadership.

“Leaders of exceptional community colleges understand that achieving excellence requires expanding college access and increasing degree completion, but it doesn’t stop there,” Wyner said. “They are committed to ensuring that all students, including students of color and those from low-income backgrounds, graduate with the skills needed to secure a job with family- sustaining wages or successfully transfer to and graduate from a university.”

The Aspen Prize Top 150 represents institutions in 34 states. 

Visit highered.aspneinsititute.org/aspen-prize for a full list of the Top 150 eligible institutions and to read more on the selection process.

November 02, 2021

Erik Cassano, 216-987-3577 or erik.cassano@tri-c.edu