Given the increasingly dynamic and multifaceted nature of higher education over the past 50 years, the American Council on Education and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching are modernizing the classification structure for the 2025 Carnegie Classifications.
The 2025 Institutional Classification will update the classification framework, historically referenced as the Basic Classification, which was developed by the Carnegie Commission on Higher Education in the early 1970s to support its research program. The Basic Classification was published for public use in 1973 and subsequently updated in 1976, 1987, 1994, 2000, 2005, 2010, 2015, 2018, and 2021. The 2025 update will shift to more multidimensional categories that better reflect the breadth and diversity of colleges and universities today.
Data and Methodology
The purpose of the Carnegie Classification system is to organize the landscape of American colleges and universities by creating groups of similar types of institutions, and it is meant to be a descriptive tool. Historically, the Basic Classification organized most institutions primarily by academic program concentration or the highest degree awarded.
The 2025 Institutional Classification will shift to a more multidimensional approach, organizing institutions by multiple characteristics to create groups of similar institution types. To make these groups most useful and accurate, we gathered feedback from institutional leaders, researchers, and other users of the classifications about the dimensions and characteristics they would find most helpful and that they use in constructing peer groups. In general, the feedback encouraged us to build off of the existing structure by considering the types of academic programs institutions offer, the types of degrees they award, and the size of institutions. We are finalizing specific dimensions and methodologies, and we will release the revised Institutional Classifications in spring 2025.
Institutions’ 2025 Institutional Classification will be based on a three-year average of reported data. The classifications will use data that institutions report to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) from academic years 2020-21, 2021-22, and 2022-23.
Institutional leaders will have the opportunity to review their classifications before they are released in spring 2025. During the review process, institutions who believe their three-year rolling average presents an anomaly may appeal to use their most recent year (2022-23) of data.
Please see the press release and the FAQ for more information about the updates to the 2025 classifications. Additionally, please visit the Research Activity Designations page for more information about updates to the research designations, which will be listed separately from the Institutional Classifications.