Last month Congresswoman Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR) joined US House of Representatives and US Senate colleagues in reintroducing the College Transparency Act.

The College Transparency Act modernizes the college reporting system for postsecondary data by providing accurate reporting on student outcomes such as enrollment, completion, and post-college earnings across colleges and majors, while ensuring the privacy of individual students is securely protected.  Specifically, the legislation would lift the student-level data ban in the Higher Education Act and provide for much more comprehensive higher education outcomes data, allowing the US Department of Education to report employment outcomes for all students, regardless of whether they receive federal financial aid.

This bipartisan, bicameral legislation would also leverage existing data at federal agencies and institutional data by matching a limited set of data to calculate aggregate information to answer questions critical to understanding and improving student success. Additionally, among other provisions, the bill seeks to streamline federal reporting requirements for postsecondary institutions.

To learn more about the College Transparency Act, see this one pager.