What Are Carnegie Classifications and Why Do They Matter?

• The Carnegie Classification is now led by the American Council on Education (ACE), which has big plans for revamping the influential categorization framework.
• Carnegie Classification comprises nearly 4,000 institutions — and includes both longstanding degree-granting and research categories as well as elective categories.
• At the top of the Carnegie Classification's longstanding basic classification framework are "R1" doctorate-granting universities with "very high research activity."

The Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education has long been a key metric for categorizing colleges and universities in the United States — and the framework will soon be getting a significant update.

The Carnegie Classification first launched in 1973 and is updated every three years to reflect the ever-changing higher education landscape. The framework comprises nearly 4,000 institutions — and includes both longstanding degree-granting and research categories as well as elective categories.

At the top of the Carnegie Classification's longstanding basic classification framework are "R1" doctorate-granting universities with "very high research activity." The broad categories also include designations based on the focus of baccalaureate-granting colleges and the transfer level at associate colleges, as well as other categories for classification.

A flowchart from the Carnegie Classification's 2021 iteration represents how specific — and stringent — the classification system can be.

Those categorizations have implications beyond just policy and research: U.S. News & World Report factors the classifications into its highly influential rankings of colleges and universities.

Changes Ahead for Carnegie Classification

The Carnegie Classification is now led by the American Council on Education (ACE), which has big plans for revamping the influential categorization framework.

Last year, ACE and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching announced plans to include classifications around social and economic mobility.

"In determining the impact of individual colleges and universities, it is important to consider their success in fostering social and economic mobility for their students," American Council on Education President Ted Mitchell said in a release at the time.

"We believe that this next incarnation of the Carnegie Classifications will recognize and encourage a wider range of institutional excellence."

U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona praised the move to prioritize social mobility and inclusivity in categorizing colleges last year, according to the release, and said he hopes the new methodology "will be the beginning of a new competition among colleges — one that rewards colleges doing the most for upward mobility."

That new methodology for categorizing colleges is expected to be launched late next year or in early 2025.

ACE recently launched a new website for the influential categorization framework earlier this year, which includes more information on how institutions land in their respective categories and context surrounding the elective classifications.