Strengthening Transparency in Higher Education Act

Floor Speech

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Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I rise today in support of the Strengthening Transparency in Higher Education Act.

The Education and the Workforce Committee has held 14 hearings on higher education, and throughout these hearings, it has become increasingly clear that students and families face a deluge of data that often provides little to no useful information as they try to make the important decisions of where to pursue postsecondary educations.

Despite repeated attempts to enhance transparency in the higher education system, students and families still struggle to access important information that will assist in their searches for the right colleges or universities. To make matters worse, data that is available often ignores a large portion of students enrolled in the postsecondary education system or fails to capture crucial information students and families need to view the entire landscape of higher education.

That is why my colleague, Representative Luke Messer, and I authored the bill before us today. The Strengthening Transparency in Higher Education Act attempts to streamline existing Federal transparency efforts to avoid duplicative information and confusion for students by creating a consumer-tested college dashboard that would display only key information students need when deciding which schools to attend as well as ensuring that all students are appropriately represented in the data presented.

Taxpayers provide a great deal of money to help students attend the institutions of their choice and to pursue their passions. Therefore, we should make every effort to see that students have the best information available to help them make good decisions for where to continue their educations. The Strengthening Transparency in Higher Education Act seeks to make that information more accessible and easier to understand.

I urge my colleagues to vote in favor of this legislation, which passed with bipartisan support out of the Education Committee.

I reserve the balance of my time.

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Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, I also want to thank our colleagues on both sides of the aisle for working together on what I think is an important piece of legislation that will help families and students in the future.

I want to give particular thanks to the staffs on both sides of the aisle. The Education and the Workforce Committee has been very active this year and last year on presenting excellent legislation to this House, and I want to thank the staff for their good work.

With that, Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on H.R. 4983, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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