As we survey the news about community colleges, first a word: Congratulations! The Aspen Institute last week announced its 10 finalists for the 2013 Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence.

• Brazosport College, Lake Jackson, TX
• Broward College, Fort Lauderdale, FL
• College of the Ouachitas, Malvern, AR
• Kingsborough Community College - CUNY, Brooklyn, NY
• Lake Area Technical Institute, Watertown, SD
• Santa Barbara City College, Santa Barbara, CA
• Santa Fe College, Gainesville, FL
• Southeast Kentucky Community and Technical College, Cumberland, KY
• Walla Walla Community College, Walla Walla, WA
• West Kentucky Community and Technical College, Paducah, KY

The institute's news release has more details, including the fact that BRT President John Engler, former governor of Michigan, and former Secretary of Education Richard Riley, the former governor of South Carolina, will co-chair the prize jury that will select a grand prize winner and up to four finalists-with-distinction to be announced in March 2013.The two also co-chaired the 2011 competition.

Business Roundtable CEOs strongly support community colleges, especially as institutions that can provide the skills training -- often in partnership with corporations -- that is so often missing today in the workforce. BRT's Engler also makes the case that focusing on technical skills in community college in no way precludes a student from continuing on to a four-year school. Indeed. From Inside Higher Education, "The Community College Pipeline ":

[New] data from the National Student Clearinghouse show just how prevalent a role two-year institutions play in providing an educational foundation for those who go on to get bachelor's degrees.

The study -- one of a series on student mobility that the clearinghouse has begun producing to capitalize on the unique data it collects as a repository of student-level information from more than 3,000 colleges -- reveals that 45 percent of all students who finished a four-year degree in 2010-11 had previously enrolled at a two-year college.
 

Meanwhile, some community colleges are reporting enrollment declines. Enrollment traditionally picks up for community colleges when the economy is bad. Perhaps the economy is improving?

• LehighValley.com (N.J.), "Local community colleges face decline in enrollment numbers "
• The Republic, Columbus (Ind.), "Dip in college totals; jobs up: Economic shift creates reversal of local trends "
• TampaBay.com, "Surge at Tampa Bay community colleges ends "