SF Named Top Community College in the Nation

Overview

Number one. The best. Top school. Santa Fe College can now categorize itself as any of these phrases as of March 18, 2015.

Santa Fe College was named the winner of the 2015 Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence by the prestigious Aspen Institute. SF was named number one over 1,000 institutions nationwide and has been in the top 10 of U.S. community colleges since 2012.

"Santa Fe College is proud to share the award with the students, employees and trustees of all community colleges in our country."
—SF President Dr. Jackson N. Sasser

Presented every two years, the Aspen award is the nation’s signature recognition of high achievement and performance in America’s community colleges. The selection of the top 10 colleges was based on student academic achievement, degree and college completion, job placement, and minority and low-income student accomplishment.

"These [finalist] schools are reinventing what it means to be the community’s college," said Dr. Jill Biden, Second Lady of the United States. " The Aspen Prize highlights the best of the best."

"To the students at Santa Fe College, this is your award. You did the work," Sasser said.

Check out what the Aspen Institute had to say about SF.

During her recent visit to Santa Fe College, Dr. Biden told students that they are “in the right place at the right time” because of the support SF offers toward success.

“Santa Fe College does an exceptional job of maintaining a strong focus on what students need to succeed both at the college and in what follows,” said Joshua Wyner, Executive Director of the Aspen Institute’s College Excellence Program. “The results are clear—student success rates at Santa Fe far exceed the national average.”

As the nation’s signature recognition of high achievement and performance in America’s community colleges, the Aspen Prize reinforces SF’s outstanding achievement in four areas: student learning outcomes, degree completion, labor market success in securing good jobs after college, and facilitating minority and low-income student success.