According to their website, "The Carnegie Classification has been the leading framework for recognizing and describing institutional diversity in U.S. higher education for the past four and a half decades." US News & World Report, as well as many other recognized post-secondaryinstitution databases, use the Carnegie Classification as an expert source in ranking colleges and universities throughout the United States. The Carnegie Classification applies many researchers throughout the year to extensively evaluate these higher-learning institutions and publish their lists.

In their latest edition, the Carnegie Classification has classified Liberty University as a Doctoral University, one of their highest and most esteemed classifications. According to the rankings and categories, this category "includes institutions that awarded at least 20 research/scholarship doctoral degrees during the update year (this does not include professional practice doctoral-level degrees, such as the JD, MD, PharmD, DPT, etc.)." Liberty awarded approximately 800 doctorate degrees in the 2013-2014 academic year (the year used in the latest report), granting it's current ranking.

To put this in perspective, Liberty is now part of a prestigious group of approximately 7% (335 out of 4,660) of all colleges and universities in the entire United States. Other top-tier universities in this category include Baylor, Biola, Dartmouth, Boston College, Harvard, Case Western, etc.

On a wider perspective, Liberty University will now be considered a National University by US News & World Report as opposed to its previous Regional University ranking. Also, being in such a ranking along with other top-ranked universities, a Liberty University degree is now more valuable and respected than ever.

In an interview with The Washington Post, Liberty University's president Jerry Falwell, Jr. stated, "Liberty’s academic leadership has steadily increased doctoral level programs as Liberty has become more of a national research-based institution of higher learning in recent years.”

In an article on the university's website, Falwell also stated, "Liberty University is very pleased with the change in its classification by Carnegie from the master’s to the doctoral level. Liberty’s academic leadership has steadily increased doctoral level programs as Liberty has become more of a national research-based institution of higher learning in recent years."

Liberty University offers over 500 programs of study and 24 doctoral degree programs. Liberty's residential campus consists of 14,500 students and its online campus of 95,000 students; over 100,000 overall students! Liberty is also currently the nation's fifth largest university, the largest university in Virginia, and the largest private, nonprofit four-year college in the country.