This is an exciting week for community colleges, their students, supporters, and employer partners. After many years, the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee plans to vote on the bipartisan College Transparency Act(CTA, S. 2511/H.R. 4806).

The Association of Community College Trustees (ACCT) has long supported CTA, introduced by HELP Committee Chair Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA), Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), and Reps. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) and Mike Kelly (R-PA).

Take Action Now! Email your senator to support the College Transparency Act.

The need: Students and families need better data to make informed choices about how to spend hard-earned money on the most effective college programs that are right for them. Business leaders need better student outcome data to recruit their workforce and keep jobs local. Policymakers need better data to make informed decisions about policy and funding of federal and state student aid programs, and how to reach the best student and workforce outcomes. Community colleges need more accurate information on their students’ outcomes, so colleges can better design programs and resources to support their students’ persistence, completion, post-completion employment, and earnings.

The problem: current law leaves out most community college students. Current law only reports on graduation rates for first-time, full-time (FTFT) college students who begin in fall, which applies to only 12 percent of community college students. Today, federal Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) data does not fully recognize community college students’ transfer, completion, and employment outcomes. Further, current law prohibits the federal government from collecting student-level data and limits reporting to students participating in the federal financial aid programs. As a result, current data systems are duplicative, inefficient, and burdensome for colleges, while also failing to generate complete, accurate, and timely information about student progress and success.

The solution: the College Transparency Act. The bill will create a secure, privacy-protected federal student-level data network (SLDN) within the Department of Education’s (ED) statistical branch, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). The new system would deliver a comprehensive picture of student outcomes across higher education.

CTA has been endorsed by more than 150 organizations, representing colleges and universities, employers, workforce and community development groups, student advocacy groups, veterans, and civil rights advocates. 

What will the CTA do?

Count all community college students. The existing required annual IPEDS data only includes first-time, full-time (FTFT) students who start in fall. This only includes 12 percent of community college students. CTA will instead count all college students, giving a fuller and more accurate view of community college outcomes.  

• Reward – don’t ignore – transfer students. Many community college students have transfer as a top goal. Unfortunately, the current system does not fully account for transfer. CTA will better incorporate transfer students and better demonstrate the success of students and institutions.
• Cut burdensome reporting requirements for colleges, and strengthen quality data.CTA will allow ED to securely connect with other federal agencies to use existing data, such as earnings, veterans benefits, and student aid benefits. This will help cut down on overlapping data collection efforts at the state, federal, private, and college level – saving community colleges time and money they can better spend on student services.
• Help align colleges’ programs with job demands. Currently, community colleges have little information about how their graduates’ employment outcomes after graduation. CTA provides detailed information on outcomes after college, including employment and earnings at the program and institution level. With this data, community colleges can improve the programs they offer, connect with employers, and help prepare graduates to meet local labor market demand.
• Showcase community colleges’ accomplishments. Students from all backgrounds earn strong outcomes at community college programs. CTA will count all students – not just first-time, full-time students using Title IV funding. Thus, CTA will uplift community college programs for prospective students and families, businesses, and policymakers. The bill will provide disaggregated data by key student characteristics – such as Pell Grant status, military/veteran status, gender, and age.
• Build on the new reconciliation law, without duplication. The H.R. 1 reconciliation law and regulations provide program-level data for those using federal aid, while CTA provides a data system for comprehensive comparisons across institutions. CTA provides more detailed data, including transfer, disaggregated by military/veteran status and other groups. CTA would greatly enhance the accuracy and fairness of the new Direct Loan accountability measures and Workforce Pell program.

For a detailed summary of CTA, click here. To read ACCT’s letter to the Senate in support of CTA, click here.

Jonathan Elkin is the Director of Government Relations at ACCT.

Photo Credit: Picryl