Frequently Asked Questions
Why were the Carnegie Classifications changed?
In 2022, the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the American Council on Education (ACE) announced a collaboration to reimagine the Carnegie Classifications to ensure they better reflect the public purpose, mission, focus, and impact of today’s higher education institutions. Despite the evolution of many institutions of higher education and the ways in which Americans pursue postsecondary credentials, the classification system had not changed considerably since its first release in 1973.
Our goal was to make the classifications more representative of institutions’ missions and better reflect a variety of education pathways and student experiences. We were particularly interested in capturing the experiences of both institutions and learners that have not been reflected in previous approaches to the classifications.
As a part of this work, we recognized the need to establish a new methodology for the historical Basic Classification methodology—the most well-known and most-used component of the Carnegie Classifications. On November 1, 2023, we announced changes that are now reflected in the 2025 Carnegie Classifications.
What are the reasons for changing the Basic Classification?
Over the last few years, it became clear that the historical Basic Classification no longer captured the breadth of today’s postsecondary institutions, particularly the wide variety of institutional missions and organizational structures, and it did not always group similar types of institutions, which is the purpose of the Carnegie Classifications. Institutional leaders have told us that the framework, which examined institutions through the lens of the highest degree awarded, was too limiting and did not adequately describe the full scope of work taking place across their campuses. Additionally, given the use by policymakers, grantmakers, and others, there were incentives for institutions to change their mission or focus in order to change their Carnegie Classification, with the resulting efforts tending to be an over-emphasis on the highest degree awarded and not necessarily where an institution spends the majority of its time and resources.
We hope the revised classification structure, which includes a multidimensional look at institutions, will be more useful for those who use the classifications.
What are the biggest changes to the classification?
There are several changes to the classification methodology in 2025, and the approach to grouping similar institutions is different from previous versions, which relied heavily on the highest degree awarded. In general, the 2025 Institutional Classification looks at three dimensions: award level focus, which looks more holistically at the types of degrees an institution awards; academic program mix, which looks at the fields of study in which an institution awards undergraduate or graduate (for graduate-focused institutions) degrees; and the size of an institution. While not all groups are defined by all three dimensions, most are.
Further details on changes from the 2021 classifications are noted in the technical manual.
My institution’s 2025 Institutional Classification is different from my 2021 Basic Classification. Why? Can I change my classification?
The 2025 Institutional Classification updates and replaces the 2021 Basic Classification. Classification changes between the 2021 Basic Classification and the 2025 Institutional Classification reflect the different methodologies, including different variables, different years of data used, and different grouping names.
Many changes in classification between the 2021 Basic Classification and the 2025 Institutional Classification are attributable from the shift away from using highest degree awarded toward an examination of the typical academic subject of degrees awarded and the award level of those degrees. We think this shift produces groupings of more similar institutions.
The classifications come out every three years, and we will engage with the field about the 2028 classifications. We offered the opportunity for institutions to appeal their data ahead of the 2025 classifications release, and the 2025 classifications are based on the finalized data and our finalized methodology.
How can users align the 2021 Basic Classification with the 2025 Institutional Classification?
There is no simple correlation between the 2021 Basic Classification and the 2025 Institutional Classification. The 2025 Classification is the latest iteration of changes to the Classifications. Analysts and researchers will discover new groups of institutions created by the new structure and methodology of the classification. We hope to engage with the field about how they use the new classification system, and we welcome feedback on additional analytical tools that would be useful in furthering our collective research.
We have published a variety of data files to help researchers and others use the classifications in the way that most works for them. For example, we have published a new longitudinal file that documents institutions’ classifications from 1973 to 2021, and the 2025 public file includes the Unit ID for each institution as well as their 2021 Basic Classification. We have also produced a highest degree awarded dimension that closely follows the previous approach.
How do the Research Activity Designations fit into the structure of the Institutional Classification?
The research designations are separate from the Institutional Classification, becoming additional listings for those institutions that met the definitions. Research activity continues to be an important way to reflect institutional missions for a number of colleges and universities and will continue to be recognized, but it is no longer the exclusive driver for how American higher education institutions are Carnegie classified.
How often are the Carnegie Classifications updated? What data will you use in future updates?
The Carnegie Classifications will continue to be published on a three-year cycle. The 2021 Carnegie Classifications were finalized in February 2022, and the 2025 Carnegie Classifications were released in April 2025. The next Carnegie Classifications will be released in 2028. We will determine data sources and methodology closer to the time of release.