2025 Institutional Classification

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 modernized the classification structure for the 2025 Carnegie Classifications. The 2025 Institutional Classification updates and replaces the classification framework historically referenced as the Basic Classification. The Carnegie Commission on Higher Education first published the Basic Classification in 1973 to support its research program and subsequently updated it in 1976, 1987, 1994, 2000, 2005, 2010, 2015, 2018, and 2021. The 2025 update shifts to more multidimensional categories that better reflect the breadth and diversity of colleges and universities today.

Purpose and Overview of the 2025 Institutional Classification

The Institutional Classification is a descriptive tool that organizes the landscape of American colleges and universities into groupings of similar types of institutions. Historically, the Basic Classification organized most institutions primarily by academic program concentration or the highest degree awarded.

The 2025 Institutional Classification uses 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 consider the types of academic programs institutions offer, the types of degrees they award, and the size of institutions.

Please see the press release and the FAQ for more and view the Institutional Classification Technical Manual for specifics about criteria, methodology, and changes. Additionally, please visit the Research Activity Designations page for more information about updates to the research designations, which are listed separately from the Institutional Classifications.

Data and Methodology

Data Used

Institutional Classifications are based on a three-year average of data that institutions reported to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) for academic years 2020-21, 2021-22, and 2022-23. Specifically, the classifications used the following data:

IPEDS 12-Month Enrollment Survey for academic years 2021, 2022, and 2023.
IPEDS Completions Survey for academic years 2021, 2022, and 2023.

For institutions that merged or otherwise changed organizational structure during the 2020-2023 period, only the data that most accurately reflects the institution during that time period was used. For example, if two institutions merged into a single institution in July 2022, only data from the 2022-23 year was considered. All exceptions and anomalies are noted in the data file. The 2025 Carnegie Classifications do not include changes to institutions after the 2022-23 school year, including mergers, openings, closures, or other changes to the organizational structure.

Dimensions in the Institutional Classification

There are three dimensions in the Institutional Classification: Award Level Focus, Academic Program Mix, and Size. Summary definitions are below. For more specifics, please see the Institutional Classification Technical Manual.

Award Level Focus: The focus and mix of award levels at an institution; generally, this is where they award the most degrees. There are six categories:
- Associate: Institutions that primarily award associate degrees.
- Associate/Baccalaureate: Institutions that primarily award associate degrees but that also award a sufficient number of bachelor’s and/or graduate degrees.
- Baccalaureate: Institutions that primarily award bachelor’s degrees and that do not have a significant graduate program.
- Undergraduate/Graduate-Master’s: Institutions that have both a graduate and undergraduate presence, with an emphasis on the master’s degree, and that do not have a significant doctoral program.
- Undergraduate/Graduate-Doctorate: Institutions that have both a graduate and undergraduate presence, with a sufficient focus on the doctorate.
- Graduate-focused: Institutions that are mostly focused on graduate studies.
Academic Program Mix: The fields of study in which institutions award 50% or more of their degrees. For most institutions, the classifications use data on undergraduate degrees only. For graduate-focused institutions, the classifications use data on graduate degrees only.
- Special Focus: Generally, the majority of degrees are awarded in a single academic area or field of study. (11 categories)
- Professions–focused: The majority of degrees are awarded in fields that are classified as pre-professional or career-aligned.
- Mixed: Fewer than 50% of degrees are awarded in any one focus area.
Size: The size of an institution, as measured by its total 12-month headcount, including full- and part-time students, and including undergraduate and graduate students.
- Very Small: Fewer than 500 students total
- Small: Between 500 and 4,000 students total
- Medium: Between 4,000 and 20,000 students total
- Large: Between 20,000 students and 40,000 students total
- Very Large: At least 40,000 students total

Institutions are organized into 31 groups based on these dimensions. In cases where groups included fewer than 30 institutions, dimensions were combined in order to create more meaningful and useful classifications. Additionally, Very Small and Small size classifications were combined into Small, and Large and Very Large were combined in Large. The 2025 Institutional Classifications are: