The Student Access and Earnings Classification was released in April 2025 alongside the revised Institutional Classification.
In 2022, ACE and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching partnered to design a Student Access and Earnings Classification that would complement the existing classification structure. The Student Access and Earnings Classification, which has been previously referenced as the Social and Economic Mobility Classification, recognizes student success and drives institutional improvement that can increase access to higher education and improve outcomes.
By design, the Student Access and Earnings Classification identifies the extent to which institutions provide access to students from lower socioeconomic and historically underrepresented racial/ethnic backgrounds along with the degree to which the institution’s students go on to earn competitive wages in the context of their geographic location. The classification also helps users to understand how an institution’s data compares to similar campuses. This classification-based approach will facilitate richer research and study, help to identify successful strategies, and allow institutions to collaborate with each other to find and advance solutions.
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ABOUT THE PRESENTERS
Mushtaq Gunja serves as executive director of the Carnegie Classification systems and senior vice president at the American Council on Education (ACE), where he is in charge of running and reimagining the Carnegie framework. Prior to joining ACE, Gunja served as assistant dean in academic affairs at Georgetown University Law Center (DC). He also serves as an adjunct professor of law at Georgetown Law and previously taught at the University of Maryland School of Law and Washington Adventist University. Gunja served as the chief of staff to the under secretary at the U.S. Department of Education under President Obama. Before moving to Washington, he served as an assistant U.S. attorney in Baltimore, where he prosecuted a variety of cases, including violent crime, racketeering offenses, drug conspiracies, and financial fraud. His work on the opioid crisis, prescription overdose deaths, and doctors’ prescribing habits earned him three Drug Enforcement Administration awards.
Sara Gast is the deputy executive director for the Carnegie Classifications, supporting the redesign and development of the Basic and Social & Economic classifications. She joined ACE in May 2022, and prior to that served as the chief of staff and executive director of strategic communications at the National Institute for Excellence in Teaching, a K-12 nonprofit that works to ensure every student is taught by an effective educator. Prior to joining NIET, Sara worked at the Tennessee Department of Education and for Education Secretary Arne Duncan at the U.S. Department of Education. Sara graduated from Vanderbilt University with a degree in English and sociology.