President Mike Hobbs and other leadership from Georgia Highlands College (GHC) represented the college during a national award ceremony in Washington D.C. recently.
The Aspen Institute named Georgia Highlands College as a finalist for the 2025 Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence in June 2024. The institutions selected for this honor stand out among more than 1,000 community colleges nationwide as having high and improving levels of student success.
Josh Wyner, executive director of the Aspen Institute College Excellence Program, says the ten finalists for the 2025 Aspen Prize demonstrate what’s possible when community colleges are deeply committed to student success.
“Each of these institutions has taken scaled, innovative approaches to better outcomes, from improving completion rates to making sure credentials lead to good-paying jobs and fulfilling careers, whether directly after community college or after transfer and bachelor’s attainment,” Wyner said.
While the award went to Southwest Wisconsin Technical College, GHC was the only college in the state of Georgia to be named a finalist. Wyner notes that the 2025 Aspen Prize finalists not only deserve national recognition but also serve as models for how community colleges can drive meaningful, scalable improvements in student outcomes.
“Being recognized on the national stage by the Aspen Institute for our commitment to student success is an extraordinary honor for Georgia Highlands College,” GHC President Mike Hobbs said. “Out of thousands of institutions across the country, GHC was named one of the top ten colleges—a distinction that speaks volumes about the transformative work happening here.”
Rounding out the Aspen Prize top 10, named in the spring of 2024, were Georgia Highlands College, Moorpark College (California), Northeast Wisconsin Technical College, Northwest Vista College (Texas), Seminole State College of Florida, and UCNJ Union College of Union County, NJ. 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.
“We are deeply grateful for this recognition, but more than anything, we are proud of what it represents: the remarkable achievements of our students, made possible by the unwavering support of our dedicated faculty and staff,” Hobbs said. “Our students are driven and resilient, and our faculty and staff are among the most talented and compassionate in the field. This honor is a celebration of their collective efforts and the lasting impact they are making on families and communities throughout our region.”
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.