The Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education was developed by The Carnegie Commission on Higher Education in 1970 to support its program of research and policy analysis. The commission has been the standard framework for recognizing and describing institutional diversity in U.S. higher education for the past four and a half decades. Criteria for this change in classification is based on Carnegie’s review of publicly available data the university submits annually.

JMU will move from regional to national in the U.S. News & World Report rankings because the publication maps its ranking categories to the Carnegie Classification system since it began its “Best Colleges” ranking in 1983. 

For more information on the Carnegie system visit https://carnegieclassifications.iu.edu/, and for more information on the U.S. News & World Report rankings visit https://www.usnews.com/education/best-global-universities/articles/methodology.