Austin Community College District (ACC) joins a national network of community colleges to help develop programs that can improve student outcomes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Aspen Institute College Excellence Program\u2019s Unlocking Opportunity network was designed to help community colleges reform programs to ensure students earn degrees that lead to good-paying jobs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Together, these college will align their programs and student\u200b advising with the two most important goals of community college students: \u200bleaving college with a credential and\u200b\u200b\u200b \u200b\u200ba good job or \u200btransferring and \u200bcompleting a bachelor\u2019s degree. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Our students deserve credentials that open doors, not dead ends. Joining the Aspen Institute\u2019s Unlocking Opportunity network moves us closer to ensuring every degree and certificate we award can lead to a great job or a clear path to a bachelor\u2019s degree,” says ACC Chancellor Dr. Russell Lowery-Hart. \u201cI\u2019m grateful for this partnership because it affirms what we already know: when we love our students to success and align our programs with their dreams, we change not just their lives, but entire communities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cEvery year, millions of students rely on community colleges for a low-cost pathway to what they assume will be a high-value credential,\u201d says Aspen Institute College Excellence Program Executive Director Josh Wyner. \u201cThey rightly assume that the degree and certificate programs their colleges offer will deliver a good job and fulfilling career either directly after community college or after transferring and earning a bachelor\u2019s degree. The leaders at each of the 55 colleges that have signed up for Unlocking Opportunity have made clear that they will spend the next three years working toward the kinds of reforms needed to make that assumption a reality for thousands more students.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The multiyear initiative will engage college leaders and teams through a series of virtual and in-person sessions focused on scaling reforms that align their community college programs with available good jobs and bachelor\u2019s degree pathways in their regions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Aspen will use insights from this work to inform the broader field through fellowship programs, publications, and state partnerships to provide professional development to college leaders and teams. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The full list of colleges joining the expanded network is available [here]<\/a>. To learn more about the network, visit https:\/\/highered.aspeninstitute.org\/programs\/unlocking-opportunity<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Austin Community College District (ACC) joins a national network of community colleges to help develop programs that can improve student outcomes. The Aspen Institute College Excellence Program\u2019s Unlocking Opportunity network was designed to help community colleges reform programs to ensure students earn degrees that lead to good-paying jobs. Together, these college will align their programs […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":103,"featured_media":51423,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[1308,1309,784,1082,152,1310],"class_list":["post-51422","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-for-you","tag-aspen","tag-aspen-institute-college-excellence-program","tag-credit","tag-degree","tag-transfer","tag-unlocking-opportunity","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/students.austincc.edu\/infohub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51422","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/students.austincc.edu\/infohub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/students.austincc.edu\/infohub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/students.austincc.edu\/infohub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/103"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/students.austincc.edu\/infohub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51422"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/students.austincc.edu\/infohub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51422\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/students.austincc.edu\/infohub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51423"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/students.austincc.edu\/infohub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51422"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/students.austincc.edu\/infohub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51422"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/students.austincc.edu\/infohub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51422"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}