Years ago, the knock on community colleges was that they were little more than “high schools with ashtrays.”

Thankfully, the ashtrays and the cigarettes are long gone. And the perception that a community college education is second-rate also is disappearing in a puff of smoke.

Everett Community College provides a prime example with the news this week that it is among the top 150 community colleges and technical schools of the more than 1,100 in the nation, as judged by the Aspen Institute, an educational and policy studies organization based in Washington, D.C.

And it may be among the elite of those 150. Since 2011, Aspen every two years has reviewed each of those 150 schools, named 10 finalists, then awarded its Prize for College Excellence to the top school. Walla Walla Community College won the honor in 2013. For the first time, EvCC was named among the 150 top colleges following a review of federal data by Aspen in terms of student success in degree completion and transfers to four-year schools, improvement in student outcomes and equity in outcomes for students of all racial, ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds.

“We’ve been moving toward more student completions, more community penetration, more cooperative arrangements with K-12 schools, more success with transfers to universities,” said EvCC President David Beyer. “All those have contributed to where we are as an institution.”

EvCC, which is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year, serves more than 19,000 students each year, offering education that results in two-year associate’s degrees and transfers to four-year colleges, training for certificates of completion in technical and career fields, professional training, English as a second language courses and completion of high school diploma requirements. About 30 percent of its student population are minorities. About 80 percent of students stay in the region after completing their studies.

Along with its main campus in north Everett, which it shares with the Everett University Center and the Washington State University North Puget Sound, EvCC has its East County Campus in Monroe, a cosmetology program in Marysville, its Aviation Maintenance program at Paine Field, its Corporate and Continuing Education program in south Everett, and its Aerospace and Advanced Manufacturing center in north Everett.

To be considered as a finalist for Aspen’s prize, EvCC must now complete a portfolio that will further detail its successes, a job that falls to Heather Bennett, the college’s executive director for Institutional Effectiveness and Resource Development.

It’s a matter of packaging data she already has on hand regarding graduation rates of EvCC’s students and of students who have gone on to four-year schools, retention of students and employment rates for former students.

EvCC, Bennett said, also can point to its community engagement, including twice annual community events on a variety of topics and work on economic vitality and workforce training in Arlington, Darrington and other Stillaguamish Valley communities following the Oso landslide.

The chief focus remains, she said, on serving the whole student, offering the services that students, many who have commitments to jobs and family, need to complete their education, including financial aid and resources for their daily lives.

“What shows up in the stats, what we see in the grad rates is a steady climb of individual success because we’re paying more attention to student needs,” Bennett said.

Whether or not it’s named as a finalist later this fall, Bennett expects EvCC will show up repeatedly on that list of 150 colleges. The top honor from Aspen, to be announced in 2017, includes a $1 million award to the winning school.

For a college that faces financial challenges all the time, Beyer said there would be a lot of discussion about what to do with a $1 million windfall.

“No doubt, the focus would be on students,” Beyer said.