Which universities gained R1 in the new 2025 Carnegie Classifications?
A list of changes for reference
The American Council on Education recently released their new updated 2025 Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education (or Carnegie Classification for short). Of note, this update from the 2021 Classification release changed a previously more subjective 10 metric criteria for R1 status (the highest classification) to three new easier to understand cutoffs:
R1 classification: institutions with at least $50 million in total research spending and 70 research doctorates
R2 classification: institutions with at least $5 million in research spending and 20 research doctorates that don’t meet the R1 standard
Research Colleges and Universities: institutions with at least $2.5 million in research spending that don’t meet the R1 or R2 standards
With these new standards, a total of 42 new institutions have gained R1 status. 10 of those were reclassified from a previous unique designation (“Special Focus Four-Year: Research Institution”), and were all medical schools or health centers. This leaves 32 new schools, as well as 1 school that lost their R1 status, listed below:
Schools that gained R1 status from R2
School Name | City | State | Average Research Spending (FY 21-23) | Average Research Doctorates (21-23) |
American University | Washington | DC | $69,856,333 | 61 |
Brigham Young University | Provo | UT | $75,758,000 | 102 |
East Carolina University | Greenville | NC | $58,145,667 | 81 |
Florida Atlantic University | Boca Raton | FL | $65,937,333 | 105 |
Howard University | Washington | DC | $68,254,000 | 97 |
Indiana University–Purdue University-Indianapolis | Indianapolis | IN | $72,380,000 | 104 |
Lehigh University | Bethlehem | PA | $49,783,000 | 100 |
Loyola University Chicago | Chicago | IL | $47,550,000 | 132 |
Michigan Technological University | Houghton | MI | $92,206,000 | 81 |
Missouri University of Science and Technology | Rolla | MO | $56,430,000 | 107 |
New Mexico State University-Main Campus | Las Cruces | NM | $119,463,000 | 102 |
Northern Arizona University | Flagstaff | AZ | $71,130,333 | 86 |
Nova Southeastern University | Fort Lauderdale | FL | $35,291,667 | 474 |
Saint Louis University | Saint Louis | MO | $82,555,333 | 233 |
San Diego State University | San Diego | CA | $131,818,667 | 97 |
Southern Illinois University-Carbondale | Carbondale | IL | $50,822,667 | 108 |
Southern Methodist University | Dallas | TX | $53,084,333 | 132 |
The Catholic University of America | Washington | DC | $41,390,667 | 88 |
University of California-Merced | Merced | CA | $52,130,000 | 89 |
University of Dayton | Dayton | OH | $210,481,667 | 62 |
University of Idaho | Moscow | ID | $119,133,000 | 80 |
University of Massachusetts-Boston | Boston | MA | $66,638,667 | 88 |
University of Massachusetts-Lowell | Lowell | MA | $107,729,333 | 109 |
University of Missouri-Kansas City | Kansas City | MO | $47,025,667 | 134 |
University of North Carolina at Charlotte | Charlotte | NC | $62,343,333 | 160 |
University of North Dakota | Grand Forks | ND | $157,806,000 | 90 |
University of Rhode Island | Kingston | RI | $134,137,000 | 92 |
University of Toledo | Toledo | OH | $61,826,333 | 116 |
University of Vermont | Burlington | VT | $215,144,333 | 71 |
University of Wyoming | Laramie | WY | $127,696,667 | 94 |
William & Mary | Williamsburg | VA | $75,523,000 | 70 |
Worcester Polytechnic Institute | Worcester | MA | $57,319,667 | 73 |
Schools reclassified R1 from “Special Focus Four-Year: Research Institution”
Institution Name | City | State | Average Research Spending (FY 21-23) | Average Research Doctorates (21-23) |
Baylor College of Medicine | Houston | TX | $797,095,333 | 100 |
Medical University of South Carolina | Charleston | SC | $298,713,333 | 236 |
The University of Tennessee Health Science Center | Memphis | TN | $118,398,333 | 185 |
The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston | Houston | TX | $341,853,667 | 195 |
The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio | San Antonio | TX | $246,440,667 | 110 |
University of California-San Francisco | San Francisco | CA | $1,854,175,000 | 149 |
University of Maryland - Baltimore | Baltimore | MD | $602,615,333 | 74 |
University of Nebraska Medical Center | Omaha | NE | $210,605,000 | 76 |
University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center | Dallas | TX | $717,175,667 | 84 |
Weill Medical College of Cornell University | New York | NY | $574,396,000 | 74 |
Schools that lost R1 status
School Name | City | State | Average Research Spending (FY 21-23) | Average Research Doctorates (21-23) | 2025 Research Activity Designation |
University of Alabama in Huntsville | Huntsville | AL | $160,917,333 | 39 | Research 2: High Spending and Doctorate Production |
Newly classified R2 schools
Schools newly classified as R2’s include a mix of those that were previously classified as Doctoral/Professional Universities or Master’s Colleges and Universities, as well as Special Focus Institutions. The former can be considered to have “gained” R2 status (similar to R2’s moving up to R1’s) while the latter might be better considered as simply reclassified for simplification.
“Newly gained” R2 status:
INSTNM | City | State | 2021 Carnegie Classification | Average Research Spending (FY 21-23) | Average Research Doctorates (21-23) |
Abilene Christian University | Abilene | TX | Doctoral/Professional Universities | $6,363,000 | 68 |
Appalachian State University | Boone | NC | Master's Colleges & Universities: Larger Programs | $6,725,667 | 15 |
California State Polytechnic University-Pomona | Pomona | CA | Master's Colleges & Universities: Larger Programs | $8,547,333 | 10 |
California State University-Los Angeles | Los Angeles | CA | Master's Colleges & Universities: Larger Programs | $9,802,333 | 11 |
California State University-Sacramento | Sacramento | CA | Master's Colleges & Universities: Larger Programs | $25,173,667 | 13 |
CUNY Hunter College | New York | NY | Master's Colleges & Universities: Larger Programs | $35,445,333 | 19 |
Delaware State University | Dover | DE | Master's Colleges & Universities: Medium Programs | $28,569,333 | 20 |
East Texas A & M University | Commerce | TX | Doctoral/Professional Universities | $5,270,333 | 64 |
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University-Daytona Beach | Daytona Beach | FL | Master's Colleges & Universities: Larger Programs | $23,968,333 | 25 |
Hampton University | Hampton | VA | Doctoral/Professional Universities | $10,966,667 | 27 |
Hofstra University | Hempstead | NY | Doctoral/Professional Universities | $6,882,000 | 65 |
Kean University | Union | NJ | Doctoral/Professional Universities | $6,366,333 | 25 |
Lamar University | Beaumont | TX | Doctoral/Professional Universities | $6,402,000 | 67 |
Pepperdine University | Malibu | CA | Doctoral/Professional Universities | $5,687,333 | 71 |
Saint Joseph's University | Philadelphia | PA | Master's Colleges & Universities: Larger Programs | $6,879,333 | 26 |
San Jose State University | San Jose | CA | Master's Colleges & Universities: Larger Programs | $71,733,667 | 12 |
South Carolina State University | Orangeburg | SC | Master's Colleges & Universities: Small Programs | $6,774,000 | 19 |
Southern Connecticut State University | New Haven | CT | Master's Colleges & Universities: Larger Programs | $6,681,000 | 18 |
Texas Woman's University | Denton | TX | Doctoral/Professional Universities | $5,964,667 | 155 |
University of Michigan-Dearborn | Dearborn | MI | Master's Colleges & Universities: Larger Programs | $8,830,333 | 19 |
University of Northern Colorado | Greeley | CO | Doctoral/Professional Universities | $5,177,000 | 94 |
University of Puerto Rico-Mayaguez | Mayaguez | PR | Master's Colleges & Universities: Medium Programs | $16,877,000 | 17 |
University of San Francisco | San Francisco | CA | Doctoral/Professional Universities | $4,555,000 | 29 |
University of West Florida | Pensacola | FL | Master's Colleges & Universities: Larger Programs | $38,720,333 | 24 |
Virginia State University | Petersburg | VA | Master's Colleges & Universities: Medium Programs | $11,984,333 | 15 |
Yeshiva University | New York | NY | Doctoral/Professional Universities | $7,129,000 | 74 |
Reclassified Special Focus Institutions:
Institution Name | City | State | Average Research Spending (FY 21-23) | Average Research Doctorates (21-23) |
Albert Einstein College of Medicine | Bronx | NY | $318,755,667 | 29 |
Eastern Virginia Medical School | Norfolk | VA | $21,857,000 | 33 |
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai | New York | NY | $895,568,000 | 44 |
Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center-New Orleans | New Orleans | LA | $55,690,667 | 19 |
Medical College of Wisconsin | Milwaukee | WI | $310,928,333 | 35 |
Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences | Tulsa | OK | $9,542,000 | 13 |
Oregon Health & Science University | Portland | OR | $483,260,000 | 47 |
Rush University | Chicago | IL | $118,222,000 | 19 |
Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center | Lubbock | TX | $45,598,333 | 85 |
The Rockefeller University | New York | NY | $367,862,667 | 36 |
The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston | Galveston | TX | $207,823,000 | 48 |
University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences | Little Rock | AR | $203,203,667 | 25 |
University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School | Worcester | MA | $344,090,667 | 52 |
University of Oklahoma-Health Sciences Center | Oklahoma City | OK | $128,185,333 | 28 |
Upstate Medical University | Syracuse | NY | $49,558,333 | 18 |
Newly recognized Research Colleges and Universities
This category kind of rolls up previous lower classifications and establishes what seems to be a simpler, clearer way to recognize universities that conduct research, although not up to R2 standards. Only two tables will be called out, those that dropped down from the previous R2 classification, and schools that were not classified at all.
Schools dropping from R2 to RCU:
School Name | City | State | Average Research Spending (FY 21-23) | Average Research Doctorates (21-23) |
California State University-East Bay | Hayward | CA | $17,066,333 | 9 |
California State University-San Bernardino | San Bernardino | CA | $12,229,333 | 11 |
University of Maryland Eastern Shore | Princess Anne | MD | $9,546,667 | 18 |
Schools not previously included in Carnegie Classifications altogether:
INSTNM | City | State | Average Research Spending (FY 21-23) | Average Research Doctorates (21-23) |
Pennsylvania State University-Penn State Erie-Behrend College | Erie | PA | $6,502,333 | 0 |
Pennsylvania State University-Penn State Harrisburg | Middletown | PA | $3,674,667 | 7 |