Letter to Mitch McConnell, Senate Majority Leader, And Chuck Schumer, Senate Minority - Cassidy, Colleagues Request College Transparency Act Be Included in Year-End Spending Bill

Letter

Dear Majority Leader McConnell and Minority Leader Schumer:

As the 116th Congress draws to a close, we urge you to include the College Transparency Act in
an end-of-the-year agreement.

Accurate accounting of the value of postsecondary education is essential to allow students and
families to make informed decisions about their education, and to allow policymakers and the
public to better understand how institutions of higher education are serving their students. The
College Transparency Act does this by establishing a federal student-level data system, which
will reform and improve the current system to provide accurate, timely, and high-quality
aggregate data regarding student outcomes in a user-friendly, transparent way for students and
families, policymakers, institutions, and businesses, enabling them to answer critical questions
about student access and success.

The College Transparency Act has broad bipartisan support in both the House and Senate
Chambers. In the House, the legislation has 234 cosponsors, including 151 Democratic
cosponsors and 83 Republican cosponsors, and it was included as introduced in the College
Affordability Act passed by the House Committee on Education and Labor. In the Senate, the
legislation has 37 cosponsors, including 17 Democratic cosponsors and 20 Republican
cosponsors. Together, more than half of all voting Members of Congress -- including those in the
House and the Senate -- have cosponsored the legislation.

As families are grappling with tougher financial decisions and budgets that are more strained
than ever, and as policymakers are making difficult decisions about the future of our higher
education system, we have no time to waste. The data system created by the College
Transparency Act is expected to take up to four years to establish, because doing so requires
extensive measures to ensure student data privacy and security. This is an essential part of the
legislation, but it delays when the system will be able to provide the much-needed transparency
to students, parents, and policymakers about the value of postsecondary education. Until
Congress passes the widely supported, strongly bipartisan College Transparency Act, students
and families will continue to be left in the dark about the return on investment in postsecondary
education.

As end-of-the-year legislation is considered, we believe that the College Transparency Act
should be considered must-pass legislation. This year, taxpayers invested billions more in
institutions of higher education than in recent years. It's more important than ever for students,
families, and taxpayers to see a return on that investment. Now is the time to pass the College
Transparency Act.

Thank you for your consideration. Please do not hesitate to let our offices know if you have any
questions.
Sincerely

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