New Carnegie Classification Recognizes UMass Boston as a High-Access University
The American Council on Education (ACE) and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching (Carnegie Foundation) today published the latest in a series of updates to the Carnegie Classifications, which included naming UMass Boston as one of 49 universities nationwide and one of seven in the Northeast as R1 research universities that also provide high access.
“UMass Boston has long maintained a commitment to research that generates new knowledge that both explores critical areas of inquiry and addresses complex challenges of our times,” said Chancellor Marcelo Suárez-Orozco, noting Carnegie’s classification of the university has an R1 institution earlier this year. “This new high-access designation reaffirms our equally firm commitment to providing the highest student access to an excellent university education.”
According to ACE and Carnegie, the classification updates are intended to reflect the multifaceted nature of higher education in the 21st century and measure the extent to which institutions provide students access and a path to earning competitive wages. The Carnegie Classifications now identify institutions within the Student Access and Earnings Classification that can serve as models for studying how campuses can foster student success.
“The majority of students apply to college with the hope it is a path to opportunity, and the job they’ve dreamt about,” said Timothy F.C. Knowles, president of the Carnegie Foundation, in a press release. “This work is about ensuring that institutions are recognized when they empower students to reach their goals and succeed.”
“Hundreds of institutions nationwide are providing students an excellent opportunity to use higher education as a springboard to a better life,” said Ted Mitchell, president of ACE. “The Student Access and Earnings Classification highlights the depth and breadth of schools where student success is front and center.”
In February, Carnegie raised UMass Boston’s research classification to R1, very high research activity–very high spending and doctorate production. In fiscal year 2024, UMass Boston reported $81.1 million in annual research funding, a growth of 31% over the past four years, and research expenditures grew to $71.34 million, a growth of 33.7% over the past four years. Doctoral degrees conferred have reached record levels over the past four years, to 124 in 2024, nearly double the number a decade ago.
"I am pleased that the Carnegie Foundation once again recognizes excellence at UMass Boston,” said Provost Joseph Berger. “Our high-access mission is a point of pride, and this new classification is further validation of the essential role UMass Boston plays as a leading research institution that promotes inclusive excellence for the communities we serve."
About the 2025 Institutional Classification
Since 1973, the Carnegie Classification has served as the gold standard for organizing the landscape of U.S. higher education. The 2025 Institutional Classification updates the historic approach to grouping similar colleges and universities, now organizing institutions by multiple characteristics, including their size, the types of degrees they award, and the fields of study in which students receive their degrees.
By using multidimensional categories to group institutions, the Institutional Classification better reflects the wide variety of institutional missions and organizational structures that exist today. This update addresses the limitations of the historic Basic Classification, which organized most institutions primarily by academic program concentration or the highest degree awarded and fell short of adequately describing the full scope of activity on campuses across the country.
The multidimensional groupings of the Institutional Classification are designed to make the Carnegie Classifications more relevant and useful for policymakers, funders, researchers, and others who rely on the classification system for a comprehensive view of higher education in the United States.
About the 2025 Student Access and Earnings Classification
The 2025 Student Access and Earnings Classification focuses on student success. The classification measures whether institutions are enrolling and creating opportunities for students in communities the institutions serve and whether students earn competitive wages after they attend.
The Student Access and Earnings Classification recognizes a wide variety of institutions of all sizes, locations, and types as drivers of opportunities for students. 479 schools have been named Opportunity Colleges and Universities, a new designation that identifies institutions within the classification that can serve as a model for studying how campuses can foster student success.
This new classification uses the multidimensional groupings of the 2025 Institutional Classification to evaluate student access and earnings between similar colleges and universities. By evaluating student access and earnings among peer campuses, the Classifications aim to foster collaboration and institutional improvement with a focus on how comparable higher education institutions can foster opportunities for student success. The methodology also considers location data for each institution, comparing an institution’s data to the relevant geographical context.