Kaine & Colleagues Introduce Bipartisan College Transparency Act

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Tim Kaine joined Senators Bill Cassidy (R-LA) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and his colleagues in introducing the College Transparency Act (CTA), bipartisan legislation to provide students and their families with accurate reporting on student outcomes, so they can make better decisions about which schools and programs of study are best suited to their unique needs and desired outcomes. The CTA would modernize the college reporting system for postsecondary data and provide better information on student outcomes such as enrollment, graduation rates, and post-college earnings across colleges and majors.

“Whether and where someone chooses to go to college is a big decision, and it’s important that students and their families have access to accurate information about student outcomes, so they can make the best decision for them,” said Kaine. “I’m proud to join my colleagues in introducing this bipartisan bill to update the current college reporting system and help ensure students, their families, and employers have access to this critical, up-to-date information.”

The current college reporting system is overly burdensome on institutions of higher education, and it provides little practical information for students and their families due to significant gaps in college data reporting. The CTA would:

• Update the college reporting system, so institutions would securely report privacy-protected, student-level data to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES).
• Require NCES to securely store student information, work with relevant federal agencies to generate post-college outcomes reports, and present the summary information on a user-friendly website for students and families. 
• Aid institutions of learning and policymakers in their work to improve our country’s post-secondary education system and assist businesses and other employers in finding potential employees best suited for a particular field.

In addition to Kaine, Cassidy, and Warren, the bill is cosponsored by Senators Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), John Cornyn (R-TX), Bob Casey (D-PA), Kevin Cramer (R-ND), Joni Ernst (R-IA), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Thom Tillis (R-NC), Ben Ray Luján (D-NM), Mitt Romney (R-UT), and Chris Murphy (D-CT). U.S. Representatives Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL-8) and Joe Wilson (R-SC-2) introduced the companion legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Full text of the bill is available here. A summary of the bill is available here.

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