Carnegie Classification of Higher Education (2025)

The Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education is the framework American researchers, policy analysts and grants offices use to group colleges and universities by what they award, how large they are and how much research they do. Since April 2025 it is no longer one list: the Basic Classification has been replaced by a redesigned Institutional Classification, and two further classifications sit beside it. This guide explains what each part answers, what changed, and how to cite the labels correctly. As described on the official page on 2026-10-29, the American Council on Education (ACE) runs the framework.

What it is and who runs it

The Carnegie Commission on Higher Education developed the classification in 1973 to support its program of research and policy analysis. It was updated in 1976, 1987, 1994, 2000, 2005, 2010, 2015, 2018, 2021 and 2025. ACE operates the current website and answers questions about it, with the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching as partner. The official site calls the framework an objective, degree-based lens through which researchers can group and study similar institutions, including when they design a study that needs a fair sample of institutions, students or faculty.

The four classification families

Each part answers a different question, so a single institution carries several labels at once. They are not ranks of one another.

Family	Question it answers	Official basis (2025 edition)
Institutional Classification	What kind of institution is this?	Types of degrees awarded, fields of study in which they are awarded, and institution size; 31 categories
Research Activity Designations	How much research does it do?	Three categories, from reported research and development expenditures and the number of research/scholarship doctorates conferred
Student Access and Earnings Classification	Who gets access, and what do graduates earn?	Access for students from lower socioeconomic and historically underrepresented racial/ethnic backgrounds, and graduates’ earnings in the context of their geographic location
Elective Classifications	Has the institution been recognized for a public-purpose commitment?	Institutions apply to the Carnegie Foundation under a theme: Community Engagement, Leadership for Public Purpose or Sustainability

The research family is the one most grants staff meet first, because it carries the R1 and R2 labels. This page only summarizes it; thresholds and the designation data trail are covered in R1 universities and what the Carnegie R1 designation means.

What changed in 2025

ACE and the Carnegie Foundation announced the redesign on April 24, 2025. Three changes matter for anyone who learned the older system:

The Basic Classification was replaced. The Institutional Classification is described on the official page as a redesigned approach to it, and the release states that it replaces the historic Basic Classification.
Research activity is listed separately. The 2025 Research Activity Designations are published apart from the Institutional Classification instead of being folded into one category label.
A new classification was added. The Student Access and Earnings Classification compares institutions with peers in the same Institutional Classification groups and considers geographic context. Within it, 478 institutions were named Opportunity Colleges and Universities, a new designation for institutions that can serve as models for studying how campuses foster student success.

The official home page lists 3,927 institutions.

How the data is built and how often it updates

The method is public, and knowing the data years prevents most misreadings.

The 2025 Institutional Classification uses the IPEDS 12-Month Enrollment Survey and the IPEDS Completions Survey for academic years 2021, 2022 and 2023. IPEDS is the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System run by the National Center for Education Statistics.
The 2025 Research Activity Designations use Higher Education Research and Development (HERD) survey total research expenditures for FY2021, FY2022 and FY2023, plus IPEDS 2021 to 2023 completions of reported research doctorates. For these two variables ACE used either the institution’s three-year average or the most recent year (2023), whichever was higher.
The Student Access and Earnings Classification draws on a wider set of sources, listed on its own methodology page.

ACE states that it will not revise the 2025 classifications until the next update, due in 2028, though it monitors name changes. For the previous edition, the 2021 classifications covered any institution that conferred at least one degree in academic year 2019-20 as reported through IPEDS, together with military service institutions that do not participate in that survey. The labels are built from reported data using a published methodology; the official site describes an application process only for the Elective Classifications.

How researchers cite and reuse it

Name the edition every time. A label without a year is ambiguous, because the same institution can have a 2021 Basic Classification and a 2025 Institutional Classification that differ. The official site gives this recommended APA-format citation for the current version:

American Council on Education (n.d.). The Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, 2025 edition, Washington, DC: Author.

It also gives a web-site form, citing the framework’s “About Carnegie Classification” page at https://carnegieclassifications.acenet.edu/ with the retrieval date optional. The site’s content is licensed under Creative Commons; for uses outside the scope of that license, the site directs readers to contact ACE. Older data are available too: the 2021 Public Data File and the 1973-2021 Longitudinal Data File are listed on the site’s Resources page.

In a proposal or study design, state which family you used, for example “2025 Research Activity Designation” rather than “Carnegie class”. When the sponsor of a program defines its own institutional categories, use the sponsor’s definitions. For federal science funding terminology, see National Science Foundation (NSF).

Common misreadings

Using a 2021 Basic label as if it were current. The Basic Classification was replaced in 2025. Check which edition a spreadsheet, directory or website quotes.
Treating the research designation as the whole classification. R1 and R2 describe research activity only. The Institutional Classification is a separate label based on degrees, fields and size.
Expecting a mid-cycle change. A 2025 label does not move before 2028 as a result of new spending or new doctorates; only name changes are monitored.
Reading 2025 labels as 2025 activity. The inputs are 2021 to 2023 data, so the labels describe that window.
Mixing basic and applied research ideas with institutional type. Carnegie sorts institutions, not research. For the research-type distinction, see basic research vs. applied research.

Typical timeline phases

The cycle has a regular shape, without fixed calendar dates being promised by this page:

Federal survey data (IPEDS, HERD) for several academic or fiscal years are collected and reported by institutions.
ACE and the Carnegie Foundation apply the published methodology to a multi-year window; for 2025 that window is 2021 to 2023.
The new edition is released, with a public data file and methodology documents.
The labels stay fixed until the next full update, due in 2028 for the current edition.

Related classifications (table)

Need	Use	Edition note
Group institutions by degrees, fields and size	Institutional Classification	2025; replaces the Basic Classification
Identify research-intensive institutions	Research Activity Designations	2025; three categories; see R1 universities
Study access and graduate earnings	Student Access and Earnings Classification	2025; compares peers within Institutional Classification groups
Study institutional public-purpose commitments	Elective Classifications	Community Engagement, Leadership for Public Purpose, Sustainability
Compare with the previous framework	2021 Basic Classification	Available in the 2021 Public Data File and the longitudinal file

FAQ

What is the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education?

It is a framework, developed in 1973 and now operated by the American Council on Education, that groups U.S. colleges and universities by degrees awarded, research activity and student outcomes so that similar institutions can be studied together.

What replaced the Basic Classification?

The 2025 Institutional Classification, which has 31 categories based on degrees awarded, fields of study and institution size.

When is the next update?

ACE states that the next update is due in 2028 and that the 2025 classifications will not be revised before then.

Does an institution have to apply to be classified?

The Elective Classifications are earned: institutions apply to the Carnegie Foundation under a theme. The other families are derived by ACE from reported data under the published methodology.