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WASHINGTON, DC—In response to the Senate HELP Committee’s approval of the College Transparency Act, Kevin Carey, the vice president of Education and Work programs at Â鶹¹û¶³´«Ã½, issued the following statement.

“The Senate HELP Committee’s bipartisan approval of the is an important step toward giving students, families, policymakers, and taxpayers the information they deserve about higher education.

For far too long, our understanding of postsecondary educational outcomes has been built on incomplete data that leaves out millions of students. The result has been policies that too often measure what is easiest to count instead of what matters most.

The College Transparency Act will help change that by creating a secure, privacy-protected student-level data network that provides a more complete picture of who students are, where they enroll, how they progress, and what outcomes they achieve. Better information won’t solve every challenge facing higher education, but it is impossible to make sound policy—or for students to make informed decisions—without it.

At Â鶹¹û¶³´«Ã½, we’ve long argued that transparency is foundational to both accountability and consumer choice. Students should be able to compare programs based on meaningful outcomes. Policymakers should be able to identify where public investments are succeeding and where they are falling short. Institutions should be better able to understand outcomes and improve student success.

The bipartisan support for this legislation reflects the simple premise of the bill: Better data leads to better decisions. We thank Chairman Cassidy and Senator Warren for their years of work championing this important legislation, and applaud Chairman Cassidy, Ranking Member Sanders, and the committee members who advanced this legislation. We encourage Congress to move quickly to send the College Transparency Act to the President’s desk.

Students deserve facts when making one of the most important investments of their lives.”