[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4806 Introduced in House (IH)]
<DOC>
119th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 4806
To establish a postsecondary student data system.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
July 29, 2025
Mr. Krishnamoorthi (for himself, Mr. Kelly of Pennsylvania, Ms.
Bonamici, Ms. Sherrill, Mr. Fitzpatrick, Mr. Peters, Ms. Perez, Mr.
Sherman, and Mr. Castro of Texas) introduced the following bill; which
was referred to the Committee on Education and Workforce
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To establish a postsecondary student data system.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``College Transparency Act''.
SEC. 2. POSTSECONDARY STUDENT DATA SYSTEM.
Section 132 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1015a)
is amended--
(1) by redesignating subsection (l) as subsection (m); and
(2) by inserting after subsection (k) the following:
``(l) Postsecondary Student Data System.--
``(1) In general.--
``(A) Establishment of system.--Not later than 4
years after the date of enactment of the College
Transparency Act, the Commissioner of the National
Center for Education Statistics (referred to in this
subsection as the `Commissioner') shall develop and
maintain a secure and privacy-protected postsecondary
student-level data system in order to--
``(i) accurately evaluate student
enrollment patterns, progression, completion,
and postcollegiate outcomes, and higher
education costs and financial aid;
``(ii) assist with transparency,
institutional improvement, and analysis of
Federal aid programs;
``(iii) provide accurate, complete, and
customizable information for students and
families making decisions about postsecondary
education; and
``(iv) reduce the reporting burden on
institutions of higher education, in accordance
with section 5 of the College Transparency Act.
``(B) Avoiding duplicated reporting.--
Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, to
the extent that another provision of this section
requires the same reporting or collection of data that
is required under this subsection, an institution of
higher education, or the Secretary or Commissioner,
shall use the reporting or data required for the
postsecondary student data system under this subsection
to satisfy both requirements.
``(C) Development process.--In developing the
postsecondary student data system described in this
subsection, the Commissioner shall--
``(i) focus on the needs of--
``(I) users of the data system; and
``(II) entities, including
institutions of higher education,
reporting to the data system;
``(ii) take into consideration, to the
extent practicable--
``(I) the guidelines outlined in
the U.S. Web Design Standards
maintained by the General Services
Administration and the Digital Services
Playbook and TechFAR Handbook for
Procuring Digital Services Using Agile
Processes of the U.S. Digital Service;
and
``(II) the relevant successor
documents or recommendations of such
guidelines;
``(iii) use modern, relevant privacy- and
security-enhancing technology, and enhance and
update the data system as necessary to carry
out the purpose of this subsection;
``(iv) ensure data privacy and security is
consistent with any relevant Federal law
relating to privacy or data security,
including--
``(I) the requirements of
subchapter II of chapter 35 of title
44, United States Code, specifying
security categorization under the
Federal Information Processing
Standards or any relevant successor of
such standards;
``(II) security requirements that
are consistent with the Federal agency
responsibilities in section 3554 of
title 44, United States Code, or any
relevant successor of such
responsibilities; and
``(III) security requirements,
guidelines, and controls consistent
with cybersecurity standards and best
practices developed by the National
Institute of Standards and Technology,
including frameworks, consistent with
section 2(c) of the National Institute
of Standards and Technology Act (15
U.S.C. 272(c)), or any relevant
successor of such frameworks;
``(v) follow Federal data minimization
practices to ensure only the minimum amount of
data is collected to meet the system's goals,
in accordance with Federal data minimization
standards and guidelines developed by the
National Institute of Standards and Technology;
and
``(vi) provide notice to students outlining
the data included in the system and how the
data are used.
``(2) Data elements.--
``(A) In general.--Not later than 4 years after the
date of enactment of the College Transparency Act, the
Commissioner, in consultation with the Postsecondary
Student Data System Advisory Committee established
under subparagraph (B), shall determine--
``(i) the data elements to be included in
the postsecondary student data system, in
accordance with subparagraphs (C) and (D); and
``(ii) how to include the data elements
required under subparagraph (C), and any
additional data elements selected under
subparagraph (D), in the postsecondary student
data system.
``(B) Postsecondary student data system advisory
committee.--
``(i) Establishment.--Not later than 2
years after the date of enactment of the
College Transparency Act, the Commissioner
shall establish a Postsecondary Student Data
System Advisory Committee (referred to in this
subsection as the `Advisory Committee'), whose
members shall include--
``(I) the Chief Privacy Officer of
the Department or an official of the
Department delegated the duties of
overseeing data privacy at the
Department;
``(II) the Chief Security Officer
of the Department or an official of the
Department delegated the duties of
overseeing data security at the
Department;
``(III) representatives of diverse
institutions of higher education, which
shall include equal representation
between 2-year and 4-year institutions
of higher education, and from public,
nonprofit, and proprietary institutions
of higher education, including
minority-serving institutions;
``(IV) representatives from State
higher education agencies, entities,
bodies, or boards;
``(V) representatives of
postsecondary students;
``(VI) representatives from
relevant Federal agencies;
``(VII) individuals with expertise
in data privacy and security; and
``(VIII) other stakeholders
(including individuals with consumer
protection and postsecondary education
research).
``(ii) Requirements.--The Commissioner
shall ensure that the Advisory Committee--
``(I) adheres to all requirements
under chapter 10 of title 5, United
States Code (commonly known as the
`Federal Advisory Committee Act');
``(II) establishes operating and
meeting procedures and guidelines
necessary to execute its advisory
duties; and
``(III) is provided with
appropriate staffing and resources to
execute its advisory duties.
``(C) Required data elements.--The data elements in
the postsecondary student data system shall include, at
a minimum, the following:
``(i) Student-level data elements necessary
to calculate the information within the surveys
designated by the Commissioner as `student-
related surveys' in the Integrated
Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), as
such surveys are in effect on the day before
the date of enactment of the College
Transparency Act, except that in the case that
collection of such elements would conflict with
subparagraph (F), such elements in conflict
with subparagraph (F) shall be included in the
aggregate instead of at the student level.
``(ii) Student-level data elements
necessary to allow for reporting student
enrollment, persistence, retention, transfer,
and completion measures for all credential
levels separately (including certificate,
associate, baccalaureate, and advanced degree
levels), within and across institutions of
higher education (including across all
categories of institution level, control, and
predominant degree awarded). The data elements
shall allow for reporting about all such data
disaggregated by the following categories:
``(I) Enrollment status as a first-
time student, recent transfer student,
or other non-first-time student.
``(II) Attendance intensity,
whether full-time or part-time.
``(III) Credential-seeking status,
by credential level.
``(IV) Race or ethnicity, in a
manner that captures all the racial
groups specified in the most recent
American Community Survey of the Bureau
of the Census.
``(V) Age intervals.
``(VI) Gender.
``(VII) Program of study (as
applicable).
``(VIII) Military or veteran
benefit status (as determined based on
receipt of veteran's education
benefits, as defined in section
480(c)).
``(IX) Status as a distance
education student, whether exclusively
or partially enrolled in distance
education.
``(X) Federal Pell Grant recipient
status under section 401 and Federal
loan recipient status under title IV,
provided that the collection of such
information complies with paragraph
(1)(B).
``(D) Other data elements.--
``(i) In general.--The Commissioner may,
after consultation with the Advisory Committee
and provision of a public comment period,
include additional data elements in the
postsecondary student data system, such as
those described in clause (ii), if those data
elements--
``(I) are necessary to ensure that
the postsecondary data system fulfills
the purposes described in paragraph
(1)(A); and
``(II) are consistent with data
minimization principles, including the
collection of only those additional
elements that are necessary to ensure
such purposes.
``(ii) Data elements.--The data elements
described in clause (i) may include--
``(I) status as a first generation
college student, as defined in section
402A(h);
``(II) economic status;
``(III) participation in
postsecondary remedial coursework or
gateway course completion; or
``(IV) other data elements that are
necessary in accordance with clause
(i).
``(E) Reevaluation.--Not less than once every 3
years after the implementation of the postsecondary
student data system described in this subsection, the
Commissioner, in consultation with the Advisory
Committee described in subparagraph (B), shall review
the data elements included in the postsecondary student
data system and may revise the data elements to be
included in such system.
``(F) Prohibitions.--The Commissioner shall not
include individual health data (including data relating
to physical health or mental health), student
discipline records or data, elementary and secondary
education data, an exact address, citizenship status,
migrant status, or national origin status for students
or their families, course grades, postsecondary
entrance examination results, political affiliation, or
religion in the postsecondary student data system under
this subsection.
``(3) Periodic matching with other federal data systems.--
``(A) Data sharing agreements.--
``(i) The Commissioner shall ensure secure
and privacy-protected periodic data matches by
entering into data sharing agreements with each
of the following Federal agencies and offices:
``(I) The Secretary of the Treasury
and the Commissioner of the Internal
Revenue Service, in order to calculate
aggregate program- and institution-
level earnings of postsecondary
students.
``(II) The Secretary of Defense, in
order to assess the use of
postsecondary educational benefits and
the outcomes of servicemembers.
``(III) The Secretary of Veterans
Affairs, in order to assess the use of
postsecondary educational benefits and
outcomes of veterans.
``(IV) The Director of the Bureau