The Tradeoffs Universities Face in Chasing the R1 Designation
November 21, 2025
The Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education was meant to be a description of universities’ characteristics that could help researchers and policymakers evaluate the higher ed landscape as a whole. In other words, the Research I, or R1, category, which indicates high research spending and significant doctoral production, was never supposed to be an “elite” level toward which non-R1 institutions should strive.
Whatever the original intent, “the R1 research designation has become a powerful symbol of prestige,” writes Erin Lynch in Issues. “Like a bright light at the end of an expensive tunnel, the designation has come to represent the possibility of greater research cost recovery and purchasing power.”
For schools that suffer a legacy of underinvestment, such as historically Black colleges and universities, Lynch argues that chasing the R1 designation may come at a significant cost to their access-oriented missions. “This is a difficult path for most institutions,” she writes, “but for HBCUs with a historical disadvantage, stony is the road.”