Research concerned with race in higher education often utilizes terms like Asian American, AAPI, API, APA, and APIDA interchangeably, with a limited grounding in theories of racial formation and panethnicity. Without adequate conceptual grounding, haphazard uses of such terms can lead to imprecise scholarship; and worse, perpetuate a form of racial and ethnic erasure and violence. To advance and expand theories of race in higher education research, we offer a framework of panethnic formations by reviewing theories of panethnicity, racial formation and critical race theory, demonstrating that panethnic formations and race are always in flux. We encourage theoretical intentionality and specificity in the use of racial terminology, directly grounded in relevant scholarship on panethnicity and race. This article expands theoretical considerations in research related to race, ethnicity, and panethnicity in higher education.