In April 2025, the Carnegie Foundation and the American Council on Education announced the new Student Access and Earnings Classification, a unique approach to describing the contributions of postsecondary institutions nationwide. This classification compares similar institutions across the country, identifying whether they provide access to students in communities they serve, and whether those students go on to successful, wealth-generating careers in the regions where they live and work. Already, 479 institutions have been identified as Opportunity Colleges and Universities, meaning these offer higher access and their graduates have higher earnings, serving as models for studying how campuses can foster student success.

In light of the new classification, the Carnegie team invited select higher education leaders and members of the Carnegie Postsecondary Commission—including Shirley Collado, President and CEO, College Track; Nancy Cantor, President, Hunter College; Juan Sánchez Muñoz, Chancellor, University of California, Merced; and Aaron Rasmussen, Co-Founder, MasterClass; Founder, Outlier— to share what this new framework means for the colleges, universities, and the future of the sector.

Why do you believe the Student Access and Earnings Classification will have a meaningful impact on the future of higher education?

Shirley Collado, President and CEO, College Track: Higher education in this country has long centered the concept of “college readiness”—how students become ready to engage in higher education spaces. The Student Access and Earnings Classification flips the narrative. It positions student success—what students need to thrive and pursue purposeful lives after graduation—as a primary definition of success for colleges and universities. When we frame higher education in this way, it enables us to collectively activate a future where higher education meets students where they are. This creates outcomes that not only build character and the life of the mind, but, by extension, prepare students for the demands of the future of work in this nation.

There is a lot of synergy between this new classification and the mission of the organization I lead, College Track. At College Track, we focus on the success—in college and beyond—of young people who are the first in their families to earn a bachelor’s degree. We have learned that four major drivers contribute to first-generation student success: affordability, academic preparation, a sense of belonging, and access to mentors. When these conditions are met, first-generation students exceed expectations. Degree completion is more realistic, and students feel that they can bring their families and communities along in their success. If we imagine a higher education landscape that creates these conditions and affirm these four areas, students from all walks of life benefit and succeed.

Nancy Cantor, President, Hunter College: The new Student Access and Earnings Classifications place much needed emphasis on the pivotal role that higher education institutions play as engines of social mobility. Over the past several decades, the American consciousness about quality in higher education has been dominated by popular press rankings that reward exclusivity and the private benefits that can be gained by going to college. For example, valuing indices such as low acceptance rates, greater institutional wealth, greater alumni wealth, and perceived prestige over indices that emphasize how colleges and universities are public goods. At the same time, there has been a lot of research in recent years that documents declining public trust in higher education, among other institutions across the public, private, and nonprofit sectors. 

By classifying institutions according to how accessible they are and how effective they are at facilitating social mobility, Carnegie will help refocus public attention on the institutions’ role in providing equality of opportunity. This focus will improve individual student success, and also, it will simultaneously contribute to institutional excellence, given the diverse lived experiences that will be brought to our tables, and ultimately reshape a dynamic workforce for the future, instantiating what systems theorist Scott Page calls “The Diversity Bonus”. 

In national conversations among higher education leaders, I’ve seen growing momentum around measuring and increasing student success. I am hopeful that we have gotten the message out about how important it is to demonstrate our effectiveness in creating access, affordability, and social mobility. The rigor and credibility that Carnegie’s classifications bring to this discussion represent a major step forward in our collective efforts to restore public confidence in higher education.

Juan Sánchez Muñoz, Chancellor, University of California, Merced: 30 years ago, California’s Central Valley was chosen as the location for the newest University of California campus–UC Merced–because it is a location of great need, promise and opportunity. Today, UC Merced’s student body mirrors its region and the state: over 60% of our students are the first in their family to attend college, and 61% are Pell-eligible. We’re helping students and families realize their dream of a world-class education at a research university that values excellence and opportunity.  

The new Student Access and Earnings Classification quantifies our impact, giving us meaningful metrics to help the next generation of students understand how their lives – and those they care about – are improved with higher education.

This classification represents a bold and necessary shift in how we evaluate institutions, their continued efficacy and relevance moving forward. It signals a future shaped not only by innovation and discovery, but also by the values and ambitions of students and the needs of our country and its dynamic economy. For decades, the Carnegie Classification system has served as a framework for understanding the diversity of institutions across the higher education landscape, but in this moment, when questions of equity, social mobility, and economic opportunity are more urgent than ever, the need to evolve that framework has never been clearer. This new classification does precisely that.

By anchoring institutional recognition to both access and earnings, the Carnegie Foundation – a proven leader and catalyst in this space- is helping to redefine what success in higher education truly means. This is more than a classification—it’s a call to action to reimagine the higher educational landscape.

Aaron Rasmussen, Co-Founder, MasterClass; Founder, Outlier: As the adage says, you improve what you measure. Colleges and universities are responsive to benchmarks, classifications, and metrics, especially if comparable to their peer group. The Student Access and Earnings Classification will incentivize institutions to improve outcomes in these areas, benefitting both schools and students as expectations around equity and economic mobility continue to evolve.  

At the same time, the new classification will provide students with an important tool for making informed decisions. As students increasingly consult AI for help with their school choices, classifications and metrics will be better exposed and communicated. Already, R1 classification appears in a generic comparison between colleges on ChatGPT. This flattening of access to classifications benefits students and, in turn, pressures institutions in a virtuous cycle of transparency and improvement. 

Why are you hopeful that this is a meaningful moment for higher education to succeed in fostering student success? How would you characterize the responsibility of higher education to support the economic mobility of enrolled students? 

Nancy Cantor: While much media attention in recent years has fallen on controversy in higher education, data shows that a college degree remains one of the best indicators of long-term prosperity. Earning a bachelor’s degree, for example, continues to be associated with lifetime earnings of roughly $1.2 million compared to a high school diploma (see, for example, the work of the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce). In that sense, there is good evidence that higher education is living up to its responsibility to facilitate social mobility.

Shirley Collado: I see the Student Access and Earnings Classification as a tool to help reinvigorate public trust in higher education. When we look at institutions that have earned this classification, many of these places have been educating the future of America for a long time. I’m excited that the Carnegie Foundation is shining a bright light on campuses that have been centering student success and access for decades, often with very lean resources and with a population of students that is often underestimated. These colleges and universities are proving that there are affordable and student-centered models that can work for all of American higher education. This is undeniably a hopeful moment, and a very meaningful one.

Right now, higher education is facing an existential crisis. Rising tuition costs, the enrollment cliff, and broad recognition that the business model of higher education is unsustainable have brought the sector to a crossroads. The new classification shows the path forward for institutions that are finding their footing in a dramatically shifting landscape. It also demonstrates that this path forward is a collaborative one that can weave in networks and partnerships beyond the academy. 

This is something we model at College Track. We’ve implemented a college and university partnership strategy with 18 institutions—from research universities to liberal arts colleges to HBCUs—that focuses on affordability, access, and a campus environment that engenders a sense of belonging for students from all walks of life. As a result, one in three College Track alumni graduate with little to no debt and our six-year graduation rate is three times the national average for first-generation college students. When we focus on student outcomes as a function of what it’s going to take to revitalize not just the educational ecosystem but the American dream, there is a lot to hope for.

Juan Sánchez Muñoz: There have always been questions about the value proposition of higher education and whether it is accessible or worth the effort and investment. Regrettably, the volume of these types of questions has increased in recent years. However, there is unequivocal data that clearly shows how lives, families, and futures are transformed through higher education. 

The Student Access and Earnings Classification creates a common language to help future students and our country reach their greatest potential.   

I, along with many others, have sought to serve as champions of this important narrative. The unambiguous relationship between access, opportunity, and earnings, as captured in the new classification, challenges us to rethink the evolving role that higher education plays in shaping the economic and social trajectories of our students and country. It encourages us to align academic programs, support services, and research partnerships with the needs of an evolving workforce and a diversifying population. And it rewards institutions not only for who they admit, but for how they empower those students to thrive long after graduation.

Aaron Rasmussen: As schools are exposed more directly to market forces and higher competition for students due to the enrollment cliff and more scrutiny of the value of higher education, they will be forced to respond to current student needs. This is the moment when savvy institutions will focus on student success and then learn to tell a compelling story to prospective students about how they, too, will succeed. 

Today’s students are considering more options for postsecondary education and weighing them against their own definitions of success. The Student Access and Earning Classification is coming at the right time to spotlight a major factor that will help institutions succeed in this new landscape.