Congress revives controversial College Transparency Act to create lifelong student database

The Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee has approved the College Transparency Act, a bill that would establish a federal system to gather extensive personal data on every college student without consent. Originally introduced in 2022 and defeated in the House, the measure resurfaced and passed the committee with only Sen. Ashley Moody opposing it. The legislation seeks to collect information such as enrollment status, program of study, race, gender, economic background, and any additional data the government deems necessary, and would permit sharing with agencies like the Social Security Administration, IRS, Pentagon and Census Bureau.

Opponents contend the act creates a massive privacy breach, replaces meaningful transparency about institutional practices with student surveillance, and revokes a 2008 prohibition on such databases. They also warn that the database could be vulnerable to hacking, citing recent breaches in other federal information-sharing systems. The bill’s supporters claim the data will help assess college outcomes, but the proposal lacks clear criteria for measuring institutional success.