The classifications are based on data through 2004. Why aren’t they more up to date?
We used the most current data available to us for all institutions. It is very important to recognize that empirically-based classifications are time-specific and inherently retrospective: they portray a snapshot of individual institutions and of the U.S. higher education system at a particular point in time. Because colleges and universities are constantly changing, many might be classified differently if we repeated our analyses with more recent data—but those classifications would still be retrospective.
