By Washington Informer Staff
Howard University has been recognized as one of the nation’s top “Opportunity Colleges and Universities – High Access and High Earnings,” the American Council of Education and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching announced Thursday.
The university earned the designation for providing access to high-quality education regardless of socioeconomic or cultural background while preparing students to earn relatively high wages in their geographic areas. The “Opportunity College” classification is ACE and Carnegie’s highest designation for institutions facilitating social and economic mobility.
Among Research One institutions – the nation’s highest Carnegie Classification for research spending and doctorate production – Howard has the highest “access” ratio, based on enrollment of Pell Grant recipients and students from underrepresented racial/ethnic groups compared to similar populations in their area.
Howard graduates have the highest median earnings eight years after graduation among historically Black colleges and universities.
“This designation underscores Howard’s legacy of academic excellence and success in preparing generations of students for careers that lead to higher economic mobility,” said Howard University President Ben Vinson III.
The announcement follows Howard’s designation earlier this year as the only historically Black college or university among Research One institutions.
“As a top research institution, Howard is a place where students have the opportunity to lead efforts to redefine research and reimagine innovation to help solve real-world problems,” said Bruce Jones, Howard’s senior vice president for research.
ACE and Carnegie used publicly available information to categorize degree-granting American colleges and universities, considering median undergraduate post-attendance earnings compared with earnings of peers ages 22-30 who hold a high school diploma or higher. Geographic and cultural impacts on earnings were also considered.
The designation adds to recent recognition of Howard’s accomplishments. U.S. News & World Report’s 2025 Best Colleges ranking lists Howard at No. 12 nationally for social mobility, making it the only university in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area with a social mobility ranking in the top 40.
U.S. News also recently ranked Howard University School of Law No. 13 in the nation for “Law Schools with the Most Graduates at Big Law Firms.” The publication ranked Howard as the No. 1 HBCU for undergraduate programs in business, computer science, economics, engineering and psychology. Forbes ranked Howard as the top HBCU in the nation last fall.
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