Southwest Tech Receives National Recognition

The Aspen Institute, a global nonprofit organization whose purpose is to ignite human potential to build understanding and create new possibilities for a better world, has announced that Southwest Wisconsin Technical College, one of 16 colleges in the Wisconsin Technical College System, is the winner of the 2025 Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence, the nation’s signature recognition for high achievement and performance among America’s community colleges.

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.

Aspen Prize winner Southwest Wisconsin Tech stands out for its strong completion rates––including for lower-income students––and exceptional wage outcomes for graduates. 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 by nearly 20 percentage points. Southwest Wisconsin Tech is aiming even higher—working to raise its already impressive 54% graduation rate to 70% 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 Wisconsin Tech: 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 collegewide reforms that deliver outstanding results.

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 (Texas) and South Puget Sound Community College (Washington)––and Rising Star Wallace State Community College-Hanceville (Alabama) will each receive $100,000.