Palm Beach State eligible to compete for $1 million Aspen Prize for excellence
Palm Beach State College has once again made the Aspen Institute’s list of the top 150 community colleges in the nation because of its record of student success.
Making the list means that the College is eligible to compete for the coveted $1 million Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence. Only the top 150 out of the nation’s more than 1,000 community colleges qualify for the list each year, and PBSC has been on the list each year since the Aspen Institute began the award. PBSC is among 14 of Florida’s 28 colleges to make this year’s list, which includes colleges from 35 states. The 10 finalists for the 2017 award will be announced this fall.
The Washington, D.C.-based educational and policy studies organization list of top community colleges is based on exceptional levels of student success. The Aspen Institute reviews publicly available data to determine which community colleges demonstrate student success in three areas: persistence, completion and transfer; consistent improvement in outcomes over time and equity in outcomes for all racial/ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds.
The Aspen Institute named its first prize winner in 2011. The prize is given out every two years.