Selection Sets a Record for Highest Percentage of Schools to Qualify from a Single University System
Queensborough Community College/CUNY
Six CUNY community colleges have qualified for the 2023 Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence. The biennial prize, which comes with a $1 million award, is considered the highest recognition for community college achievement in the nation.
The CUNY colleges – Kingsborough Community College, Queensborough Community College, Hostos Community College, LaGuardia Community College, Guttman Community College and Borough of Manhattan Community College – were among 150 chosen from over 1,000 institutions nationwide to vie for the prize. They represent 86 percent of CUNY’s community colleges, the highest percentage of schools from any university or state system in the Aspen Prize’s 11-year history. The colleges will now compete for the prize, to be awarded in 2023.
“We could not be more thrilled that a record-breaking six of our schools have qualified for the Aspen Prize – an award that President Obama likened to the ‘Oscars for great community colleges,’” said Chancellor Félix V. Matos Rodríguez, who served as Hostos president from 2009 to 2014. “It is further affirmation that in the category of moving lower-income students into the middle class and beyond with in-demand credentials and preparation for sustainable careers, CUNY’s community colleges cede the stage to no one.”
As outlined by the Washington, D.C.-based Aspen Institute, the Aspen Prize honors colleges with outstanding achievement in five critical areas: teaching and learning, certificate and degree completion, transfer and bachelor’s attainment, workforce success, and equity for students of color and those from low-income backgrounds.
Borough of Manhattan Community College/CUNY
“We are heartened to see so many CUNY colleges eligible for the 2023 Aspen Prize — more than ever since the Prize was founded in 2010,” said Josh Wyner, executive director of the Aspen Institute College Excellence Program. “A hallmark of excellent community colleges is their desire to improve: every year working to ensure that many more students learn in the classroom and complete strong programs of study, and to make sure those outcomes are not reserved for just some students, but extend to Black, Latinx and lower-income students who have for too long been underserved by higher education. It is those student success and equity outcomes that make colleges eligible for the Aspen Prize. The staff, faculty, and leaders at CUNY should be proud that so many CUNY colleges are on this year’s top-150 prize list.”
CUNY has expanded its highly successful Accelerated Study in Associate Programs (ASAP) initiative from 4,000 students in 2014-15, to 25,000 students in recent academic years. ASAP, which aims to graduate at least 50 percent of students within three years, has more than doubled timely associate degree completion rates for participants. ASAP is now considered a national model, having been successfully replicated across the country, and received the distinguished 2020 Innovations in American Government Award from the Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.
CUNY’s community colleges continue to enable thousands of students to earn STEM degrees and enter New York City’s vibrant high-tech sector. Its CUNY Research Scholars Program provides unparalleled opportunities for associate degree students to participate in mentored laboratory research experiences.
Two of the six CUNY community colleges selected by Aspen – BMCC and Hostos – were also recently recognized by MacKenzie Scott with historic $30 and $15 million gifts respectively. The author and philanthropist singled out the CUNY schools as “high-impact” institutions in “categories and communities that have been historically underfunded and overlooked,” and added that she was supporting institutions that are “successfully educating students who come from communities that have been chronically underserved.”
The top 10 finalists for the 2023 Aspen Prize will be named in May 2022. The Aspen Institute will then conduct site visits to each of the candidate schools and collect additional quantitative data, including employment and earnings data. A jury will make award decisions in spring 2023.
The City University of New York is the nation’s largest urban public university, a transformative engine of social mobility that is a critical component of the lifeblood of New York City. Founded in 1847 as the nation’s first free public institution of higher education, CUNY today has seven community colleges, 11 senior colleges and seven graduate or professional institutions spread across New York City’s five boroughs, serving over 260,000 undergraduate and graduate students and awarding 55,000 degrees each year. CUNY’s mix of quality and affordability propels almost six times as many low-income students into the middle class and beyond as all the Ivy League colleges combined. More than 80 percent of the University’s graduates stay in New York, contributing to all aspects of the city’s economic, civic and cultural life and diversifying the city’s workforce in every sector. The University’s historic mission continues to this day: provide a first-rate public education to all students, regardless of means or background.
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