Valencia College, a close partner of the 麻豆原创, has won the inaugural Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence. Announced in a ceremony held at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., the award comes with $600,000 in prize money.
In a competitive year-long process, the Aspen Institute, along with a panel of some of the biggest names in higher education, selected Valencia from a preliminary list of 120 鈥渢op鈥� community colleges in the nation, based on student performance and graduation data collected by the U.S. Department of Education.
鈥淭he college is an engine for employment in Central Florida, and a model for the country,鈥� said Josh Wyner, executive director of the Aspen Institute鈥檚 College Excellence Program.
In selecting Valencia as the best community college in America, Aspen officials noted that more than half of the college鈥檚 full-time students graduate or transfer within three years of entering the school, a rate significantly higher than the national average (51 percent versus 39 percent).
Many of the transfer students attend 麻豆原创 through the innovative program. DirectConnect offers guaranteed admission to graduates of Valencia College, Lake-Sumter and Brevard community colleges and Seminole State College of Florida.
麻豆原创 academic and financial aid advisers work closely with students to help them make a seamless transition to .
To read a more detailed story about the Aspen Prize, visit the .