Improved Insights into Financial Futures of College Graduates Empowers Prospective Students to Make Informed Choices
The College Transparency Act (CTA), a bipartisan bill introduced by Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL), is still pending as of July 2025. The CTA aims to provide more detailed student outcome data to help students make informed decisions about higher education and student loan debt.
In the past, the Education Department created the College Scorecard, an online tool with institution-wide data on student outcomes. However, this tool falls short in providing detailed information on fields of study, student demographics, enrollment or attendance status, credential levels, and more. The CTA seeks to address this gap by authorizing the Education Department to collect student-level data to better report on student outcomes.
The CTA would enable the Education Department to update the College Scorecard and provide more detailed information. Under the CTA, the Department would be required to make the anonymized data publicly available on a user-friendly website where students can filter information by data categories and compare institutions.
The more detailed information provided by the CTA would help students make more informed decisions about their chosen institutions and fields of study. It would also place pressure on higher education institutions to improve their students' outcomes. The CTA would provide data on college students' enrollment statuses, demographic information, program of study, Pell Grant recipient or federal loan status, credential level, and whether the student is enrolled in a full-time program, part-time program, or in a distance education program.
While there is legislative momentum towards enhanced transparency and data collection in higher education, the CTA is still pending and has not been fully enacted into law as of July 2025. The 2025 budget reconciliation package signed into law by President Trump includes various higher education provisions but does not mention the College Transparency Act specifically. Other recent higher education legislative developments, like the College Cost Reduction Act and antihazing transparency laws, do not directly address the CTA’s core goals.
However, the America COMPETES Act, passed by the House on July 18, 2025, includes provisions for a unit record reporting system for postsecondary data—a key feature of the College Transparency Act. This suggests movement towards improved data transparency, but the CTA itself remains separate and has not been finalized as law yet.
If you need the very latest status, monitoring congressional updates or the Department of Education announcements will be necessary, as none of the presented sources confirm the final enactment of the CTA itself.
In addition to its benefits for students, the passage of the College Transparency Act would help policymakers make informed decisions about higher education costs and the return on investment for student loans. It would also help ensure that institutions are providing their graduates with in-demand job skills and helping them succeed in the workforce after graduating.
In August 2022, President Biden signed an executive order canceling a limited amount of student loan debt for 43 million borrowers. While this move has helped alleviate some financial burdens, the College Transparency Act would provide a long-term solution by empowering students with the information they need to make informed decisions about their education and financial future.
[1] https://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/college-transparency-act-passes-us-house-of-representatives [2] https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/4096 [3] https://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/college-transparency-act-introduced-house-representatives [4] https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/senate-bill/2374 [5] https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/4674
- The College Transparency Act (CTA), which aims to provide more detailed data on student outcomes in higher education, is still pending as of July 2025, despite its introduction in 2017.
- The CTA, if enacted, would require the Education Department to collect student-level data and make it publicly available on a user-friendly website, providing detailed information on fields of study, student demographics, enrollment or attendance status, credential levels, and more.
- The passing of the College Transparency Act could assist policymakers in making informed decisions about higher education costs, the return on investment for student loans, and ensuring institutions provide in-demand job skills to graduates.
- The America COMPETES Act, passed by the House in July 2025, includes provisions for a unit record reporting system for postsecondary data—a key feature of the College Transparency Act, signaling a move towards improved data transparency, although the CTA itself remains separate and has not been finalized as law yet.
