Sponsors (12)
The bill centralizes and standardizes postsecondary student data to give students, researchers, and policymakers better, timelier information and reduce some duplicative reporting—at the cost of new compliance burdens for institutions and increased privacy and misuse risks for students.
Students, families, and policymakers gain standardized, integrated data that lets policymakers and institutions evaluate program effectiveness and target funding, improving education policy and institutional performance.
Prospective and current students and their families get accurate, customizable information on costs, completion, and post-college outcomes to make better enrollment and financial decisions.
Colleges, universities, and state education agencies face reduced duplicative paperwork because the new central system is designed to satisfy overlapping federal reporting requirements and replace some IPEDS reporting.
All students and families face heightened privacy and security risk because centralizing student-level records increases the chance of breaches or re-identification even with safeguards.
Colleges, universities (especially smaller and minority-serving institutions) and state agencies will incur significant administrative and technical costs to comply, transition systems, and train staff.
Institutions and states may face expanded federal reporting scope because of broad Secretary authority and vague 'satisfaction' standards, increasing recordkeeping and risk of duplicative requests.
Based on analysis of 5 sections of legislative text.
Requires the Education Department to build and maintain a national, student-level postsecondary data system with standardized, machine-readable data, restricted researcher access, privacy protections, and mandated institutional data submission.
Introduced July 29, 2025 by S. Raja Krishnamoorthi · Last progress July 29, 2025
Creates a national, postsecondary student-level data system run by the Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). The system will collect, integrate, and publish institution-, program-, and student-level information (enrollment, completion, costs, financial aid, demographics, and outcomes) in standardized, machine-readable formats, with confidentiality protections, restricted researcher access, and requirements for institutions to submit data on a timeline set by the Department. Removes the existing statutory ban on a federal student unit-record database, requires NCES to design and maintain a secure privacy-protected system (to be developed within four years), and directs the Secretary and NCES to minimize reporting burden on institutions and allow the new system’s reporting to satisfy overlapping federal reporting requirements.