WASHINGTON D.C. (Nov. 1, 2023)— The Aspen Institute has named Rend Lake College one of the top 150 institutions across the country that are now eligible to compete for the $1 million Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence. It's the nation's signature recognition of high achievement and performance among two-year colleges. Being selected for this honor, from among more than 1,000 community colleges nationwide, is an endorsement of RLC's high and improving levels of student success.
Awarded every two years since 2011, the Aspen Prize recognizes institutions with outstanding achievements in four areas: learning; certificate and degree completion; employment and earnings; and high levels of access and success for minority and low-income students. This marks RLC’s eighth Aspen top 150: 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2021, 2023 and now 2025. That’s every year that the award has been active — seven of which have been during Terry Wilkerson’s tenure as president of the college.
“It is nice to continue to be recognized as the high caliber institution that we are," Wilkerson said. "Our consistent recognition in the Aspen Prize Top 150 U.S. Community College list is a testament to the dedication our staff and faculty have for our students and their success.”
RLC is one of only seven colleges from Illinois to be selected. The others are Elgin, John Wood, Lake Land, Lewis and Clark, Olney Central and William Rainey Harper.
One high-level success metric looked at by the institute is graduation rate. RLC, with a graduation rate of 56%, is fourth among public two-year colleges in Illinois, and that rate is 20 points better than the state average, according to Community College Review’s study of the 2023-24 term.
The Aspen Institute says its prize program spotlights exemplary community colleges in order to drive attention to colleges achieving post-graduate success for all students, and is a central way Aspen researches highly effective student success strategies that are shared with the field.
In addition to very high job placement rates, RLC boasts terrific rates on licensure tests in areas such as Allied Health. According to most recent data available, the college's nursing program has a 90.6% pass rate on the NCLEX exam for registered nurses; it's radiology students posted a 90.9% pass rate on the ARRT for new technologists, and CNA students had a 92.6% pass rate on the written competency test to become a certified nursing assistant.
What's next for RLC and The Aspen Institute's contest?
The 150 eligible colleges have been invited to submit student success data and narratives about strategies to achieve better and more equitable student outcomes as the next step in an intensive review process that culminates in the naming of the Aspen Prize winner in spring 2025. The eligible colleges represent the diversity and depth of the community college sector. Located in urban, rural, and suburban areas across 30 states, these colleges serve as few as 169 students and as many as 49,619, according to the institute.
“The Aspen Prize is rooted first and foremost in an assessment of whether colleges are walking the walk,” said Josh Wyner, executive director of the Aspen Institute College Excellence Program. “As community colleges face enrollment variations, enroll students with pandemic-related learning loss, and graduate students into a rapidly changing labor market, it is easy to lose track of what matters most. The best community colleges are continuing to focus on advancing the core mission: making sure as many students as possible graduate with credentials that lead to fulfilling careers and reflect the development of diverse talent that communities, states, and our nation need.”
While community colleges are an essential contributor to our nation’s success, student outcomes vary substantially among institutions. Aspen measures those variances using multiple data sources and honors colleges with outstanding achievement in six critical areas:
teaching and learning, certificate and degree completion, transfer and bachelor’s attainment, workforce success, equitable access to the college, and equitable outcomes for students of color and students from low-income backgrounds.
“These 150 colleges have achieved high and improving levels of student success for all students, including those who are often failed by our institutions,” Wyner said. “We’re excited to learn over the coming months how they achieved that success so we can share the most impressive practices with others in the field.”
In this first round, eligibility for the Aspen Prize is based on publicly available data. Colleges must show strong, improving, and equitable student outcomes in first-to-second year retention, credentials awarded, and completion and transfer rates. Nationwide, about 15 percent of community colleges have been invited to apply (150 of just under 1,000 public two-year colleges assessed for Prize eligibility). The full list can be accessed on the Prize homepage.
The next steps in the process include:
- April 2024: Announcement of 25 semifinalists, selected based on assessments of extensive data and strategy documents by the Prize selection panel, a group of 16 experts in community colleges, higher education, and workforce training, and interviews with institutional leadership teams
- June 2024: Announcement of 10 finalists, selected by the Prize selection panel
- Fall 2024: Site visits to each of the ten finalists, during which the Aspen Institute and partners will collect additional information, including employment and earnings data and insights about promising practices
- January 2025: Prize award decisions made by distinguished, independent Prize jury at full-day meeting
- Spring 2025: Announcement of the Aspen Prize winner and celebration of the 10 finalists in Washington DC
For a full list of the top 150 eligible institutions and to read more on the selection process, visit
https://highered.aspeninstitute.org/aspen-prize/.
