Bipartisan Lawmakers Reintroduce College Transparency Act
By Maria Carrasco, NASFAA Staff Reporter
A group of bipartisan lawmakers on Tuesday reintroduced the College Transparency Act, a bill that aims to provide students with information about enrollment, completion, and postsecondary earnings for institutions and majors across the country.
The College Transparency Act has been reintroduced throughout multiple Congressional sessions, with the legislation first being introduced in 2017. The most recent version of the legislation was reintroduced in 2023.
Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who have both sponsored previous versions of the bill, formally reintroduced the legislation. A companion bill was also reintroduced in the House by Reps. Mike Kelly (R-Penn.) and Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.).
This legislation seeks to create a postsecondary student data system that would evaluate student enrollment patterns, progression, completion, and postsecondary outcomes, along with higher education costs and financial aid for institutions in the U.S. This data system would help assist with transparency of college costs, according to the bill text, and would provide information to students and families on making their decisions about postsecondary education.
This data system would be available to users through a website and analytics tool, which would allow users to customize and filter information, and create aggregate reports. Notably, the legislation states that students’ personally identifiable information would not be released in the data system.
In the press release, the lawmakers wrote that through this data system, students will have a “clear understanding” of the return on investment in higher education. Additionally, the data system would help promote better outcomes by helping institutions and policymakers.
“The One Big Beautiful Bill made historic reforms to our broken higher education system, lowering college costs and increasing Americans’ access to quality education options,” Cassidy said in a statement. “The College Transparency Act builds on that success by empowering students and families with information to make the best college decision so they can succeed.”
This legislation has 20 bipartisan cosponsors and is endorsed by multiple higher education organizations. NASFAA also supports the bill.
“Every student deserves access to clear information about colleges and universities so they can choose a school that’s best for them, and that’s exactly what our bill would do,” Warren said in a statement. “The College Transparency Act would make sure basic information like enrollment, transfer, and graduation rates are available to students and their families so they can make informed decisions about their futures.”
Publication Date: 7/30/2025
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