By Dan Wackershauser

Southwest Wisconsin Technical College

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Aspen Institute announced Thursday, April 17, that Southwest Wisconsin Technical College is the winner of the 2025 Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence.

“Winning the Aspen Prize is recognition of our commitment to expand access, strengthen student outcomes, and deliver our vision to change lives by providing opportunities for success,” said Holly Clendenen, chief student services officer, who accepted the award on the college’s behalf. “This could not have been possible without all the outstanding faculty and staff dedicated to student success, along with the determination and resilience of our students who inspire us daily.” 

Southwest Tech, the first Wisconsin technical college and first two-year college in the Midwest to win the Aspen Prize since it began in 2011, stands out for its strong completion rates — including for lower-income students — and exceptional wage outcomes for graduates, according to an SWTC news release. Five years after completion, graduates earn nearly $14,000 more than the average new hire in the region.

The college exceeds the national average for community college graduation rate (35 percent) by nearly 20 percentage points. Southwest Tech is working to raise its 54 percent graduation rate to 70 percent through multiple strategies, including ensuring that every student develops a career-aligned student success plan and has the support in place to complete their program.

A culture of continuous improvement is deeply embedded at Southwest Tech, according to the news release: faculty regularly assess student learning outcomes and adjust instruction to ensure better results each semester. Guided by a mission to “never graduate anyone into poverty,” Southwest Tech has restructured or replaced programs to align with living-wage careers, demonstrating how a rural college with a modest budget can implement college-wide reforms that deliver outstanding results.

“Southwest Wisconsin Technical College inspires the field with how they connect every program to a good-paying job that regional employers need to fill,” said Aspen Prize co-chair Tim O’Shaughnessy, CEO of Graham Holdings Co. “Their emphasis on work-based learning and hands-on training in every program shows how an engaging, high-quality education can change lives while strengthening a regional economy.”

As the winner of the 2025 Aspen Prize, Southwest Tech will receive $700,000 of the $1 million prize purse. The two Finalists with Distinction — San Jacinto College  in Texas and South Puget Sound Community College  in Washington) — and Rising Star Wallace State Community College—Hanceville in Alabama will each receive $100,000.

“These top community colleges are an inspiration,” said John King Jr., former secretary of the U.S. Department of Education and co-chair of the Aspen Prize jury. “By embracing excellence and reform, they show community colleges nationwide how the diverse students they serve can learn a lot and graduate at high rates so that they can be well-prepared for whatever comes next in their lives. Other community colleges should learn from these prize finalists so that every community college student in our country has a chance at a first-rate education.”

Aspen also recognized two community colleges with excellent workforce and transfer practices as Finalists with Distinction: San Jacinto College in Texas and South Puget Sound Community College in Washington. Wallace State Community College—Hanceville in Alabama received the Rising Star award for significant improvements in its student outcomes.

Since its creation in 2010, the Aspen Prize has been the nation’s signature recognition of community colleges that are achieving high and improving outcomes for students. It honors colleges that show outstanding performance in several areas of student outcomes: student learning, certificate and degree completion, transfer and bachelor’s attainment, and employment and earnings after graduation. In each area, the Aspen Prize looks for strong outcomes and substantial improvement for all students and different groups, including those historically underserved in higher education. The winner, two finalists with distinction, and rising star — along with the six finalists — demonstrate what is possible at America’s approximately 1,000 community colleges.  

Rounding out the Aspen Prize top 10, named in spring 2024, are Georgia Highlands College, Moorpark College in California, Northeast Wisconsin Technical College in Green Bay, Northwest Vista College in Texas, Seminole State College of Florida, and Union College of Union County, N.J. The finalists — spanning rural, suburban, and urban areas with diverse student populations and a mix of technical workforce and academic transfer programs — demonstrate that community colleges can achieve strong, improving rates of student success across a variety of contexts, according to the news release.

Josh Wyner, executive director of the Aspen Institute College Excellence Program, said the 2025 Aspen Prize finalists serve as models for how community colleges can drive meaningful, scalable improvements in student outcomes. 

“The ten finalists for the 2025 Aspen Prize demonstrate what’s possible when community colleges are deeply committed to student success,” he said. “Each of these institutions has taken scaled, innovative approaches to better outcomes, from improving completion rates to making sure credentials open doors to good-paying, in-demand careers — whether directly after community college or after transfer and bachelor’s attainment.”

The 2025 winners were selected by an independent eight-member prize jury of leaders in business, journalism, and education:

The 2025 Aspen Prize cycle began in summer 2023 when the Aspen Institute analyzed outcomes at all 1,000 community colleges nationally and invited 150 community colleges to apply, based on data showing strong and improving student outcomes in key areas such as retention, completion, and transfer. A selection committee of 18 higher education experts reviewed data and narratives for the 118 submitted applications and chose ten finalists in June 2024, following the announcement of 20 semifinalists in May 2024. For more information about the Prize process, please visit: as.pn/prize.

The Aspen Prize is funded by Ascendium, the Joyce Foundation, JPMorgan Chase, and the Kresge Foundation.

The Aspen Institute College Excellence Program aims to strengthen higher education leadership and practice to improve student outcomes — with the ultimate goal of advancing economic mobility and developing talent for the good of each individual and society as a whole.

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The Aspen Institute is a global nonprofit organization whose purpose is to ignite human potential to build understanding and create new possibilities for a better world. Founded in 1949, the Institute drives change through dialogue, leadership, and action to help solve society’s greatest challenges. It is headquartered in Washington, DC and has a campus in Aspen, Colorado, as well as an international network of partners. For more information, visit www.aspeninstitute.org.

Southwest Wisconsin Technical College is one of 16 institutions that comprise the Wisconsin Technical College System. The college was recently named the winner of the Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence. Southwest Tech offers more than 60 programs in a wide variety of disciplines. Courses are offered on campus, online, HyFlex and in a blended format. The college provides apprenticeship, certificate, technical diploma, and associate degree programs that respond to district workforce needs and prepare student for family-sustaining jobs and career advancement.