The American Council of Education took leadership of the Carnegie Classifications in 2022, and they released new classifications built on a new framework in Spring 2025. This summary is provided as a resource to members of the Council of Independent Colleges (CIC) members.
The 2025 Carnegie Classifications provide an opportunity for CIC institutions to demonstrate value:
- A quarter of CIC members fall into the “Higher Earnings” category
- Almost three-quarters of CIC members fall into the “Medium Earnings” category
- Almost two-thirds of CIC members fall into the “Higher Access” category
- Forty-six CIC members now have a “Research” designation
What’s New?
Segmentation into three classifications is meant to de-emphasize selectivity and research productivity in favor of student access and earnings.
There are now three classifications, each described in more detail below:
- Institutional Classification
- Student Access and Earnings Classification
- Research Classification
Institutional Classification is descriptive and consists of three dimensions: award level focus, academic program mix, and size.
These dimensions are combined for a total of 31 institutional classifications. CIC member institutions predominantly fall into the “Special Focus: Arts and Sciences” (125 institutions), “Professions-focused Baccalaureate Small” (114), and other Professions-focused Undergraduate categories.
Student Access and Earnings Classification is evaluative and identifies the extent to which institutions provide access to students from lower socioeconomic and historically underrepresented racial/ethnic backgrounds and the degree to which their students earn competitive wages by geography.
There are six classifications drawn from two levels of access and three levels of earnings. CIC member institutions most predominantly fall into the “High Access, Medium Earnings” classification (268) and the “Lower Access, Medium Earnings” classification (166). Eighty of CIC member institutions fall into the coveted “Opportunity Colleges” classification with high access and high earnings.
Research Classification consists of three categories:
- Research 1 (R1)
- Research 2 (R2)
- Research Colleges and Universities (RCU)
RCU’s spend at least $2.5 million on research and development. Thirty-seven CIC member institutions are designated as RCU.
Implications for CIC Member Institutions
To determine what the implications are, institutions should consider their institutional classification as well as the new access and earnings classification.
Institutional Classification
Institutions should examine the CIP Codes used in IPEDS Completions and compare them to the ACE Carnegie 2025 CIP Code that shows which CIP codes are counted in each “Academic Program Mix” category.
Access and Earnings
Grounded in data that is weighted by the state of residence for first time students, institutions wishing to shift into the “opportunity” classification will need to increase enrollment of underrepresented students. New students will need to ultimately have earnings that are higher than expected.
For additional information, contact CIC’s Director of Strategic Research and Assessment Ellen Peters at epeters@cic.edu.