Riverside City College Defined With Two Distinctions in 2025 Carnegie Classifications
Riverside City College (RCC) has been identified as a Mixed Associate Large institution and designated as Higher Access, Medium Earnings in the newly released 2025 Carnegie Classifications—recognitions that highlight the college’s academic breadth and dedication to serving diverse student populations. The Institutional Classification is intended to be descriptive and a tool for further study and analysis of the sector.
Released on April 24 by the American Council on Education (ACE) and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, the updated classifications reflect RCC’s large-scale associate degree offerings and its success in enrolling underrepresented students who go on to earn competitive wages.
“These classifications validate RCC’s mission to provide accessible, high-quality education that transforms lives,” said RCC President Dr. Claire Oliveros. “We are honored to be recognized for both the scope of our academic programs and our commitment to equity and opportunity.”
The Mixed Associate Large classification places RCC among 78 institutions nationwide—just 2% of U.S. colleges and universities—offering a wide range of associate degrees to a large student body. The Higher Access, Medium Earnings designation, part of a new Student Access and Earnings framework, reflects RCC’s enrollment of Pell Grant recipients and students from underrepresented racial and ethnic backgrounds, as well as the earnings outcomes of graduates eight years after entry.
The Student Access and Earnings Classification is based on federal data from IPEDS, the College Scorecard, and the U.S. Census Bureau, and contextualizes outcomes using local economic and demographic data. Approximately 43% of institutions received the Higher Access, Medium Earnings designation in 2025.
Carnegie Classifications are a long-standing framework used to group institutions with similar characteristics for the purpose of research, policy development, and institutional improvement. This year marks the first time the access and earnings component has been introduced.
More details, including data sources and visualizations, are available at https://carnegieclassifications.acenet.edu.
More details about the determination of classification can be found below.