Unlocking Opportunity:
The Post-Graduation Success and Equity Network

The Aspen Institute College Excellence Program (Aspen) and its partners at the Community College Research Center (CCRC) have launched a first-of-its-kind initiative that reflects the next wave of the community college student success movement: a bold focus on excellence and equity in post-completion outcomes.

The 10 colleges selected for the network will work closely with Aspen, CCRC, expert coaches, and field experts over three years on comprehensive reforms and then three additional years of evaluation, all with one overarching goal: thousands more community college students, including students of color and those from lower-income backgrounds, entering and completing programs that lead directly to jobs that pay a family-sustaining wage or to efficient and effective completion of a bachelor’s degree.

The participating colleges, announced on February 7, 2023, are: 

• Alamo Colleges District with San Antonio College as a pilot college
• Laramie County Community College
• Lorain County Community College
• Monroe Community College
• Odessa College

• Sinclair College
• Southwest Wisconsin Technical College
• St. Petersburg College
• Tulsa Community College
• Valencia College

Plus San Jacinto College as a resource college

This program classification guidebook and accompanying data analysis and visualization tools are available for community colleges seeking to (1) increase the number of students in high-value programs that lead directly to a well-paid job or to transfer and a bachelor’s degree and (2) decrease the number of students in lower-value pathways that are unlikely to prepare them for good jobs or further education at the bachelor’s level. These resources were developed by the Aspen Institute College Excellence Program (Aspen) and the Community College Research Center (CCRC) during their work with the ten Unlocking Opportunity network colleges, and are made possible thanks to generous support from Arnold Ventures, Ascendium Education Group, ECMC Foundation, and the Strada Education Foundation.

Classifying Community College Programs by Post-Completion Success in Transfer and Workforce is a guide that provides the conceptual framework and technical guidance for colleges to classify all their programs—and subsequently all enrollments and awards—into broad categories based on post-completion value.

The Enrollment Analysis Tool is a downloadable Excel-based tool that allows community colleges to enter their own program data, producing visualizations and analyses that enable college leaders to identify patterns and possible strategies to improve programs’ post-completion value and increase the number of students in high-value programs.

An Inquiry Guide on Classifying Community College Programs by Post-Completion Success in Transfer and Workforce accompanies the Enrollment Analysis Tool and further guides college leaders on what questions to consider as they review their data.