[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 177 (Wednesday, November 1, 2017)]
[House]
[Pages H8369-H8374]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  COLLEGES NEED TO BE MORE TRANSPARENT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 3, 2017, the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Mitchell) is 
recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.


                             General Leave

  Mr. MITCHELL. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members 
have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include 
extraneous material on the topic of my Special Order.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Michigan?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. MITCHELL. Mr. Speaker, today is the early action deadline for 
many colleges in the United States. Thousands of students who are 
submitting their applications are anxiously hoping for entry into a 
college, community college, or postsecondary school.
  As students try to determine what schools are right for them, it is 
clear they are missing some key information--information we all wish we 
had for our children: How likely are they to graduate? How long will it 
take to earn a degree or their certificate? How likely are they to find 
a job? How much money will they earn if they do find a job?

  As a parent, I know this information will be helpful. That is why I 
introduced the College Transparency Act. My legislation would utilize 
and make meaning out of the data we currently gather at the Federal 
level to enable students and parents to make informed decisions.
  I have over 35 years in workforce development and postsecondary 
education. I understand the difficulties that people have in making 
informed decisions about what is best for their future career. I also 
understand the reporting expectations for career colleges and 
universities. I understand which institutions have the information 
available and how they provide it. I also understand the burdens that 
occur in providing that information.
  Despite the incredible investment involved and the risk in pursuing a 
postsecondary education, we and students are left with too little 
information to answer the most basic questions: What can students 
expect to pay out of pocket? Can you imagine that really they cannot 
determine how much it will cost them to complete a postsecondary 
program? How do students fare in the labor market after leaving 
college? How likely are they to fare in order to enter into the labor 
market? How do students fare on other metrics of success we all 
consider important, like earnings, and loan repayment?
  A prospective student doesn't have the information about which 
programs at which institutions provide an adequate return on their 
investment, and on their parents' investment.
  As a consumer and a father, it is difficult for me to wrap my head 
around the idea that Americans have so little information about 
potentially what may be the largest investment they make in their 
lives, and certainly, the second largest. I am the father of six 
children. The reality is that we are investing and putting six children 
through a college or a postsecondary program. Think about how much 
money goes into that. Yet we operate in a vacuum on information.
  When you shop online, you are able to compare products, you are able 
to compare costs, you are able to compare features, the value to the 
consumer. At this point in time, try to do that about programs at a 
college, university, or career school. Try to compare one university's 
nursing program to another; or the architecture program, or history 
program, or the nursing program in a college. Try to find that 
information. You won't find it online. Try to call the university. Good 
luck on that.
  It is not that they don't try to provide it. In fact, they provide 
reams of data. The reality is that the current system simply doesn't 
gather that data in a manner that is useful to consumers, the people 
that ultimately pay the bill.
  The College Transparency Act would enable students to answer crucial 
questions, such as how likely they are to enter the workforce 
successfully, or what their chances are of transferring from a 
community college to a 4-year college and being able to graduate.
  Students past and present are owners of the $1.4 trillion outstanding 
Federal debt, and the clock is ticking. It is time for students, 
families, and guidance counselors involved in the college 
decisionmaking process to be able to assist students and have access to 
information that will make this huge investment make sense. Otherwise, 
we leave young people to make decisions based on: Well, those colors on 
the band uniform are really cool; or they have a good football team; or 
it seems like they have a really nice social life.
  But, ultimately, what we are making is an investment into the future 
of our children and the future of this country. They have massive money 
invested, and let's be honest, we all do as taxpayers as well. We have 
a huge investment in the preparation of young people for the workforce.
  It is time to streamline and update our higher education information 
system so that families and students can make better decisions on their 
path to long-term success. It is time to utilize and make meaning out 
of the data we currently collect to assist them in making the choice.

                              {time}  1915

  The question I am asked is: Why did I submit the College Transparency 
Act? I spent 35 years operating a private career school group and 
working in workforce development. I worked at Chrysler Corporation, 
moved to another company, and also retired out of that field.
  The point is, I have worked in the field for 35 years. I understand 
the data that is reported. I understand the challenges that people have 
in trying to sort out what is the best career path for them, how likely 
are they to succeed in that career path, and what is it going to cost 
to go to school?

[[Page H8370]]

  This information all exists--and we will talk about that tonight--but 
it isn't made available in some coherent manner to students, and we 
need to fix that.
  We also can't tell students how long, on average, it takes them to 
complete their program. It used to be the day where they used to call 
them 4-year colleges. The reality, as you well know, Mr. Speaker, is 4-
year colleges are now a dream, 5 years is the norm, and 6 years is not 
uncommon, yet we don't talk about the cost it takes to do that. Again, 
we don't talk about the likelihood of completing even if you attend 6 
years. The reality is we have to fix that.
  In my 35 years of dealing with the system, what became clear to me is 
it is outdated, it is burdensome, it is unhelpful, and it conflicts. It 
led me to start working on the College Transparency Act as soon as I 
came to Congress. It was the first bill that I dropped and submitted in 
Congress. It is the one I spent the most time on. Why? Because we have 
a huge investment in postsecondary education, and, even more 
importantly, we have a huge investment preparing a labor force.
  I have not gone to an employer since I was sworn into office that has 
not said to me: We can't find people with the skills to go to work.
  Yet we have people who have graduated from college who can't find 
jobs that relate to their degree. We have people who will go to college 
for an extended period of time or to a postsecondary program who don't 
complete, but they meander their way through. They get lost. They don't 
have the information to make an informed decision, and then somehow, 
sometimes, frankly, we blame the consumer.
  It is our fault. It is our fault here. It is our fault at the Federal 
Government. We are making a huge investment, and we expect everybody 
else to cure the problem. Better information on outcomes in student 
success will certainly assist in closing the skills gap that we talk 
about nearly every day here in Congress and certainly every day in the 
Education and the Workforce Committee when we meet.
  Senators Hatch, Warren, Cassidy, and Whitehouse share my concern. On 
the Senate side, they have introduced a similar bill--almost 
identical--to address this critical issue. I believe on this issue we 
can get bipartisan support to move forward with an approach to inform 
the public and the consumers about the decision they will make with 
their money and, to be honest with you, our investment in their future.
  The current system is massively broken. This chart will show the 
current reporting system for higher education in the United States 
today. If you can possibly read it from there--and we will get it 
submitted for the Record--these are all the groups that gather data, 
all the places it goes, and all the information that is exchanged about 
students going to postsecondary education in the United States.
  I ask you, Mr. Speaker, can you make any sense of that? I have worked 
35 years in that field. I will tell you that a student enrollment for 
one system doesn't match the definition of enrollment in another 
system, it doesn't match the definition in the State system, yet we all 
report that information. Graduate information is all different 
depending on the system. None of the definitions match.
  Now, if we can't get definitions to match internally in a system 
between State accrediting agencies and the Federal Government, how is 
it we expect students and how are parents to understand whether they 
are likely to complete the program? And, by the way, none of this 
information adequately reports student outcomes in terms of employment 
and doesn't provide them any information on what they are likely to 
earn. And guess what? Earnings matter in terms of their ability to pay 
their student loans back. News flash to everybody: it helps if they 
know what they are going to make.
  A 2015 study completed by Boston Consulting Group indicated $11.1 
billion is spent by institutions to comply with regulations specific to 
colleges and universities. We don't need more regulations. Good God, 
help us. We have plenty--we have plenty of reporting.
  One of the most significant findings of the study was that small and 
medium colleges are disproportionately impacted by those Federal 
regulations with compliance eating up a much larger share of 
expenditures than the wealthier institutions.
  While we say we need more options for continuing and postsecondary 
education, for career and technical education at the postsecondary 
level, we are killing those institutions with rules and regulations of 
reporting that give us that, that isn't useful to the public that has 
to make a decision. Imagine that.
  We have an opportunity to fix that with the Higher Education Act. We 
have an opportunity to fix that with the College Transparency Act. We 
have an opportunity now.
  There are three main goals of the bill. This chart will show you what 
the bill will collect. First and most importantly, the goal is to 
provide accurate and complete information that is searchable for 
students and can be customized. Think about it. How many people have 
shopped for an automobile? They have on the website a comparison of 
whatever vehicle to other similar vehicles sold by other manufacturers. 
You can compare them dealer to dealer. You can get an idea what 
features are there. Shop for whatever you want, and then tell me if you 
can find that about any educational program offered by postsecondary 
institutions.
  This addresses that issue while reducing reporting burdens on 
institutions. I believe, and I think most of our party believes, that 
market competition works best when consumers can actually find out 
information and make rational decisions. They can compare complete 
information. They can compare the offerings, the costs, and the 
outcomes.

  With that competition, we can, in fact, address one of the other 
concerns we have, which is: What is the cost of higher education? We 
can compare it not just on what you pay for tuition, room and board, 
but the return on investment. What do they get for their time and money 
in a postsecondary education program?
  More importantly, choices will be made by consumers and not the 
Federal Government. We have seen how that works in so many ways, and 
the Federal Government should not be making choices about the future of 
Americans.
  If we arm consumers with that information to make informed decisions, 
then we can remove the Federal Government from the business of 
determining quality in education and let consumers and accrediting 
agencies address that.
  The bill also replaces a number of reporting requirements that the 
Federal Government has, most notably what is called the IPED survey. I 
did them for years. Routinely, we get questions that don't match their 
definitions because their definitions made no sense for many 
institutions.
  Thirdly, the bill aims to provide transparency to its students by 
requiring they be posted in a searchable database, and the costs would 
be identified there.
  Let me go through real quickly in that chart the information that 
will be available that is not currently available on a searchable 
basis. You can get enrollment patterns, you can get progress to 
completion, and you can get completion rates. Do you graduate from a 
program? Imagine that. You can find that out, and it is the same 
definition whether it is the University of Michigan or Michigan State 
where I attended. Wouldn't that be a great idea?
  You can find out about their postcollege earnings. It is really 
helpful. Most people go to college or a postsecondary school to find a 
job, earn some money, and support their family. Can they do that? What 
is likely to be the outcome?
  The cost of the program? I mentioned that a couple of times. It is 
not just tuition and room and board. The reality is that, depending on 
the program, your costs are significantly different. My 18- almost 19-
year-old stepdaughter attends an art school. Well, beyond tuition and 
room and board, there are huge costs for art supplies. Now, we knew 
that. I have experience in education. There are a lot of people who 
start these programs who don't understand there are other costs and 
what those may be. This process requires reporting of that from the 
colleges.
  Also, information about financial aid that is available for those 
institutions

[[Page H8371]]

so they can compare program to program, institution to institution, and 
make a decision that is best for them and their family. That is what we 
are trying to achieve here. It is achievable.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Garrett) who 
will speak for a few moments on the bill and its advantages.
  Mr. GARRETT. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague, Congressman 
Mitchell, for his leadership in this amazingly important area, and also 
to point out the bipartisan nature of this bill not only, Mr. Speaker, 
to you, but to those people who might be watching at home at a time 
when it seems that we can't agree on anything, here we have an 
agreement in a College Transparency Act in how to ensure a better 
investment for the futures of our children.
  Now, there are those who have opposed this bill, and I can't really 
wrap my brain around it, Mr. Speaker. Someone suggested that this might 
grow government. But that is absolutely not true. As a matter of fact, 
the data that would be made available in this act is already collected. 
But the problem is that that data is collected, and then it is siloed 
and accessible only to institutions or government entities and not to 
the end user. That strikes me as illogical, at best, and stupid, at 
worst.
  Someone says it burdens colleges with data collection requirements, 
yet, again, the data is already being collected. What about personal 
privacy? Does it disclose individuals' private information? Well, if it 
did, I wouldn't be standing here today extolling the virtues of this 
bill which I cosponsored and Mr. Mitchell sponsors that support it 
again across the aisle to include the likes of the distinguished 
gentleman, Mr. Polis, from Colorado.
  Instead of disclosing personal data of individuals, it discloses 
metadata of groups so what we would learn, for example, is that 
individuals who majored in X at college Y had an employment rate of Z, 
and that their earning potential was A as opposed to another university 
where it might be B.
  What more pertinent information, Mr. Speaker, could there be to young 
people as they seek to choose an area of study and a place to engage in 
that area of study than their likelihood of success based on those who 
have done the same thing at the same college or university before them?
  So we have addressed some of the things that this bill doesn't do, 
but let's speak briefly about what it does do. Without any ability to 
articulately argue, this bill increases transparency. When you step 
aside from the realm of national security, I can think of no reason 
that the Federal or State or local government should be in the business 
of collecting data that they don't share with the citizens who put them 
in office or the people who fund their endeavors. Indeed, this isn't 
national security, unless you contemplate the fact that right now our 
children attend universities deprived of information that might help 
them make better choices.
  So this increases transparency. It creates informed consumers. It 
allows individuals to decide for themselves which college or university 
might offer a program that they are interested in, is the best 
investment of their time, and perhaps their or their parents' or the 
government's money. It informs payers to that very end, whether that 
payer is the student, a family member, or the State of which they are a 
resident. It gives us a return on the investment.

  The fact that this data has been collected low these many years, and 
it took the leadership of Mr. Mitchell and good folks like Jared Polis 
working across the aisle to get us to this point, is lamentable, but we 
have the opportunity in the College Transparency Act to correct these 
wrongs, not to reburden our universities with more data collection 
requirements, but to take the data that is already being collected and 
give it to the end users, the students.
  So it is with that that I again offer a hearty congratulations to 
Congressman Mitchell, a begrudging ``I wish I had thought of that,'' 
and I implore my colleagues on both sides of the aisle that while we 
already collect this data, we do not disseminate it where it would be 
most useful, and that is to the end users. I hope that all can find a 
way to join us from both parties in supporting this commonsense 
measure, the College Transparency Act.
  Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record a letter from the president of 
the University of Virginia in my district.

                                           University of Virginia,


                                      Office of the President,

                                Charlottesville, VA, June 1, 2017.
     Hon. Tom Garrett,
     House of Representatives,
     Washington, DC.
       Dear Representative Garrett: On behalf of the University of 
     Virginia (UVA), I thank you for your co-sponsorship of the 
     College Transparency Act. I appreciate your support of 
     transparency, good data, and enhanced consumer information in 
     higher education, as well as the bipartisan efforts that led 
     to the creation of this bill.
       The College Transparency Act is a step in the right 
     direction for improving federal data, which is currently 
     limited, and at times, inaccurate. Improving data helps 
     students and families with the important decisions associated 
     with choosing a college, and also helps institutions of 
     higher education improve student success. The Association of 
     Public and Land Grant Universities, for which I serve as the 
     Chair of the Council of Presidents, compiled case studies 
     showing the importance of this type of data for improving 
     student outcomes. I look forward to working with you, in your 
     influential position as a member of the House Committee on 
     Education and the Workforce, on this issue and many others as 
     Congress moves forward with reauthorizing the Higher 
     Education Act.
       Once again, thank you for your dedicated support of UVA.
           Very truly yours,
                                                  Teresa Sullivan,
                                                        President.

  Mr. GARRETT. Mr. Speaker, I would note that institutions from the 
University of Virginia to the entire Virginia community college system 
have endorsed this commonsense piece of legislation. It is a shame we 
haven't done it sooner. Let us not miss the opportunity to pass this 
now.
  Mr. MITCHELL. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate my colleague noting both the 
bipartisan nature of this legislation both in the House and the United 
States Senate, which, as you well know, Mr. Speaker, some days around 
here is hard to achieve.
  Let me note real quickly we have a listing, which I will put up now, 
of the institutions and organizations that support the College 
Transparency Act. We are now at over 90 groups that have indicated 
their support for this legislation and the need for this legislation.
  I know it is difficult to read from there, but in a moment I will 
talk more about some of these institutions.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Stivers), who is 
my colleague and good friend. Yes, he is from Ohio and roots for Ohio 
State. I went to Michigan State, but I will certainly yield to Mr. 
Stivers to talk further about the College Transparency Act.
  Mr. STIVERS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak in support of H.R. 
2434, the College Transparency Act. I want to thank my good friend from 
Michigan, Congressman Mitchell, for his leadership and bipartisan work 
on this very important bill.
  This time of year, parents and students are beginning to make 
important decisions about higher education for the next school year.

                              {time}  1930

  Unfortunately, there is little information available about what can 
be expected from the large investment in a college or a university. 
This legislation will enable students and families to make informed 
choices about their education after high school.
  The College Transparency Act will provide actionable, customizable 
information for students and families as they consider college and 
universities by accurately reporting on student outcomes, such as 
enrollment, completion, and postcollege success across colleges and 
majors.
  Most importantly, this information will tell students how other 
prospective students have succeeded at an institution and help point 
them toward schools best suited for their unique needs and desired 
outcomes.
  The current college reporting system is overly burdensome on 
institutions, yet it provides little practical information for students 
and families due to significant gaps in college data reporting.
  Additionally, the data collected only reports graduation rates for 
students who begin as full-time students and finish at the same 
institution, leaving out successes of part-time students and

[[Page H8372]]

any student who transfers and completes a degree at an institution 
other than where they started. With more than half of bachelor's degree 
recipients attending more than one school and nearly two-thirds of 
community college students starting part-time, we have to ensure that 
these students count.
  One example of this impact from my alma mater, The Ohio State 
University, is a veteran named Tami. Tami returned to school to 
complete her social work degree after her military service. She 
completed an associate of arts degree at Columbus State, a community 
college, and transferred and eventually graduated with a social work 
degree from The Ohio State University. She had a 3.9 grade point 
average in the classroom and excelled in her two-semester field 
placement at the university's Office of Military and Veterans Services.
  Under this system, Tami's success story would not count toward Ohio 
State success. Under the new system, it will. Today, the system would 
not count Tami because she started at one school and transferred to 
another school. Under the legislation that Mr. Mitchell is working on 
and that I am talking about today, Tami would count again.
  We need to make people count again. Tami served our country. Tami got 
out of the military, came back, went to school part-time, then 
transferred schools, went to school full-time, and completed her 
practical experience. Under the current reporting system, Tami doesn't 
count.
  Let's fix that. That is what this bill would do. Under the updated 
system, institutions would securely report privacy-protected student 
level data to the National Center for Education Statistics, or NCES. 
NCES would be responsible for presenting summary information on a user-
friendly website for students and families, while securely storing 
student information.
  This legislation will help countless students and families make 
better decisions about where to go for higher education, where they 
should attend.
  I want to thank Congressman Mitchell and Congressman Polis for 
introducing this important, bipartisan legislation that will help so 
many students and families, students like Tami.
  I hope we can roll up our sleeves, work together, and get this bill 
passed. I urge my colleagues to support this bill.
  Mr. MITCHELL. I appreciate the gentleman's notation of the groups 
that support this bill. I was surprised, frankly, with the number of 
groups that stepped forward--as I said, over 90--to support the College 
Transparency Act. Some of the groups I would like to stress today 
include veterans groups.
  The Student Veterans of America and Veterans Education Success, among 
others, have endorsed the bill because it helps veterans determine 
which institutions and programs best serve their unique needs and 
improve their ability to make progress in the workforce to be 
successful, something that, frankly, we owe them as part of their 
service to our country.
  As Chris Cate, vice president of research at Student Veterans of 
America, said: ``Based on recent research, the value of the Post-9/11 
GI Bill is clear, as student veterans across the country succeed at 
rates higher than traditional students. Yet, determining these outcomes 
is currently a significant effort and not easily accomplished without 
abundant resources. Basing policy on research and data is imperative, 
and it shouldn't take as much effort as it does today, as we have the 
answer to this challenge staring us in the face.'' It is the College 
Transparency Act.
  We currently collect the data that people are begging to get to make 
informed decisions for themselves and, frankly, in this case, to assist 
veterans in making wise decisions on their GI bill.
  Let me talk a little more about some of the groups that support the 
bill, and then I will yield to another colleague of mine.
  Colleges, universities, and postsecondary institutions support this 
bill, which sometimes surprises me, given what we are trying to do, 
which is remake a reporting system and make transparent their 
performance. Think about it. They support the bill without exception. 
These institutions want more comprehensive information on student 
progress, completion, and outcomes so they can better understand and 
evaluate how well they are serving their students and identify areas 
for improvement.
  Institutions also know best student-level data collection will 
decrease the reporting burden and the financial and human resources 
necessary to report and complete the requirements of the Federal 
Government, State government, and accrediting agencies.
  Associations representing institutions serving the majority of 
college students support lifting the ban on connecting student-level 
data to help build evidence and improve the quality of the program.
  As my colleague Mr. Stivers indicated, as well as others, this 
information is disseminated and developed only at the metadata level. 
It is not like we are going to send your Social Security number out and 
post it on a Facebook page with your employment status; although, in 
your case, Mr. Speaker, everyone knows well your employment status.

  According to the Michigan Association of State Universities, which 
serves as the coordinating board for Michigan's 15 public universities 
in my home State: ``The College Transparency Act of 2017 represents a 
much-needed modernization of the Federal Government's college reporting 
system for postsecondary data. The current ban on student-level data in 
the Higher Education Act represents a gross injustice to students and 
families who require and deserve more accurate data on postsecondary 
institutional outcomes in order to be adequately equipped to make one 
of the most important decision in one's life--whether and where to 
attend college. By providing more accurate information about 
institutional graduation rates, salary levels, and other employment 
outcomes, and additional information on how students fare at individual 
institutions and in academic programs, the College Transparency Act 
will enable the creation of an essential resource for student and 
consumer information.''
  Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record a letter from the Michigan 
Association of State Universities.

                                           Michigan Association of


                                           State Universities,

                                       Lansing, MI, July 10, 2017.
     Re Endorsement of College Transparency Act, H.R. 2434/S. 
         1121.

     Hon. Paul Mitchell,
     House of Representatives,
     Washington, DC.
       Dear Congressman Mitchell: On behalf of the presidents and 
     chancellors of the 15 public universities of Michigan and the 
     nearly 300,000 students they collectively enroll, I write to 
     express strong support for the College Transparency Act of 
     2017, H.R. 2434, which you have sponsored, and its companion 
     bill in the Senate, S. 1121.
       The College Transparency Act of 2017 represents a much 
     needed modernization of the federal government's college 
     reporting system for postsecondary data. The current ban on 
     student-level data in the Higher Education Act represents a 
     gross injustice to students and families who require and 
     deserve more accurate data on postsecondary institutional 
     outcomes in order to be adequately equipped to make one of 
     the most important decision in one's life--whether and where 
     to attend college. By providing more accurate information 
     about institutional graduation rates, salary levels and other 
     employment outcomes, and additional information on how 
     students fare at individual institutions and in academic 
     programs, the College Transparency Act will enable the 
     creation of an essential resource for student and consumer 
     information.
       Introduced in both Congressional chambers, this bipartisan 
     legislation will also serve as an indispensable tool in 
     helping institutions assess and enhance their academic 
     programs. Michigan public universities rely heavily on data 
     to inform institutional policy and to better serve our 
     students.
       We commend your leadership and those co-sponsoring the 
     College Transparency Act and offer our support in advocating 
     passage of the legislation. America's students, families, 
     taxpayers and postsecondary institutions will all benefit 
     greatly from its enactment.
           Sincerely,
                                                 Daniel J. Hurley,
                                          Chief Executive Officer.

  Mr. MITCHELL. For similar reasons, the Association of Public and 
Land-grant Universities, the American Association of Community 
Colleges, the Association of Community College Trustees, the Dallas 
County Community College District, State University of New York system, 
University of Virginia, Virginia Community College System, Ohio State 
University, Louisiana State

[[Page H8373]]

University, St. Clair County Community College, and many others support 
the bill.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Smucker) 
to talk further about his views on the College Transparency Act.
  Mr. SMUCKER. I thank my friend from Michigan (Mr. Mitchell) for 
hosting this Special Order on the College Transparency Act.
  Mr. Speaker, I have spoken on the floor a number of times about the 
House's work to improve education in the country. I have been proud to 
work with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle in the Education and 
the Workforce Committee to improve career and technical education, and 
I have also spoken about my own experience with higher education as a 
nontraditional student taking classes at night while I ran a 
construction company during the day.
  Tonight, I am happy to be here to talk about ensuring that students, 
parents, guidance counselors, and legislators like us have access to 
information that can help students make informed decisions about what 
college to attend so that policymakers have access to research and data 
that will better inform our work on higher education policy.
  Today, colleges and universities report data to the U.S. Department 
of Education that has been collected by a voluntary survey available 
only to a limited group of graduates. The survey is not offered to any 
student who is attending college part-time, who is not seeking a 
degree, who has transferred from another college, or who doesn't have 
Federal loans.
  In today's economy, we are trying to make higher education more 
available and accessible to nontraditional students, yet we omit a 
large group of nontraditional students from this data. That is just one 
of the reasons why we need to pass the College Transparency Act.
  This bipartisan legislation seeks to modernize higher education 
reporting so that students and families can make responsible choices 
about what college or university to attend. It will help empower 
students and families to determine how much they need to take out in 
student loans and which programs at different schools provide the best 
paths toward their dream job or a career.
  Too many students today are graduating with massive amounts of debt. 
Too many students graduate with majors offering too few opportunities. 
At the very least, students need to have this data available to them to 
make informed decisions.
  This bill, as has been pointed out by Mr. Mitchell, is endorsed by 
more than 80 education and business organizations, including Advance 
CTE and the Association for Career and Technical Education, 
organizations that represent great schools like Thaddeus Stevens 
College of Technology in my district.
  This bill has bipartisan support in our committee, in the Senate, and 
the House, and it is essential for transforming our higher education 
system to meet the needs of a 21st century economy. So, again, I am 
happy to rise to speak in support of this act.
  I would like to thank my friend from Michigan for hosting this 
Special Order this evening, and I urge my colleagues to consider 
supporting this important piece of legislation.
  Mr. MITCHELL. I thank my colleague, Mr. Smucker, for taking time out 
of his busy schedule to come here tonight to talk about the act and its 
importance nationally and in his district.
  He made reference to something I wish to stress, Mr. Speaker, which 
is that, annually, at the Federal level, we spend $160 billion a year 
on student aid. We currently spend it into a vacuum, into a giant black 
hole, in which we hope we get outcomes and which students hope they get 
outcomes. Certainly, parents hope they get outcomes so they don't 
continue to live at home. We all hope that we can get success for our 
young people, and we don't have the information to determine that.
  Let me also stress that, beyond educational groups, veterans, the 
U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Business Roundtable have both endorsed 
this bill as being critical to the success of our Nation going forward.
  I want to stress for you and everyone in this Chamber, when you get 
the level of support from such a broad range of people, we have to 
start asking ourselves: Why have we not already moved on this? Why has 
it not already taken place? We need to move on this issue sooner rather 
than later. We can't afford not to.
  Let me talk about one other group that supports this bill 
passionately. Students want to know which schools are best fit for 
their needs. Deciding where to spend their time, their precious 
dollars, and incur debt is critically important to them.
  Surprisingly enough, these folks want to do more than go to college, 
meet new friends, and have a little party every now and then. The vast 
majority--85 percent--of college freshmen rate getting a better job as 
very important in their decision to go to college; yet the day-to-day 
need, as we have talked about repeatedly tonight, to discern which 
program's institutions will best address that objective is lacking.
  The ability to provide that information is at our hands. We have the 
technology. We have the data. We just don't provide it in a usable 
format.
  Groups that support this bill include the Big Ten Student 
Association, Campaign for College Opportunity, Young Invincibles, 
Institute for College Access and Success, the United Negro College 
Fund, Achieving the Dream, Student Affairs Administrators in Higher 
Education, Institute for Higher Education Policy, and the National 
Association for College Admission Counseling. They support the College 
Transparency Act.
  I would ask: How many more groups do we need to gather before we 
decide to act here in Congress?

                              {time}  1945

  In the time I have left, I want to address some myths. And if my 
colleague, Mr. Smucker, who is still here, wants to weigh in on this, I 
invite him to join at any point in time he wants to weigh in, because 
we heard a number of myths put forward about the terrible things that 
the College Transparency Act may arise.
  One that amazes me is that while the bill requires institutions 
collect and report tons of new information on students--well, can we 
bring that chart back up of what we already collect? Let's look at that 
gem of what we collect currently. We are doing this now. Institutions 
are doing this now.
  So tell me, how are we going to collect tons more? In fact, every 
student who attends a postsecondary education institution in the United 
States has information reported on them now, whether they take student 
financial aid or not, because a 1098-T is filed by that institution 
with the IRS so, in fact, if they claim credit for going to school, 
tuition tax credit, they can claim that.
  There is no information that is not currently with one agency or 
another. The astonishing thing is the discussion that somehow there is 
some secret about whether someone is attending a postsecondary 
institution. It is astonishing.
  College universities, also, because of this reporting, hold the 
student-level data. They report much of it to the Department of 
Education, to NCES, and to the State Department of Education to 
accredit the agencies in a variety of formats. The number of formats, 
the array of those, will totally amaze you. If you would like, I can 
get those reports for you. You can spend the afternoon looking through 
the joys of reporting on educational activities in a postsecondary 
institution, and none of it makes any sense to anybody that isn't 
actually in the system, and I will admit, that data doesn't make any 
sense to me either.
  Colleges and universities also don't know if their graduates actually 
get a job, unless half the students come back happily and say they went 
to work and how much they are making. They don't get that information. 
They couldn't assist the student with that information if they tried in 
any accurate basis other than anecdotally. So they don't try. Why would 
you? You wouldn't do that. You wouldn't make that mistake.
  That information exists. Why? Because the IRS has a 1098-T on 
everyone who went to college or a postsecondary institution. That data 
can be matched by the Treasury Department to whether that student is 
employed, what they are making, and they can report that, as was noted 
earlier, through metadata to the Department of Education for 
development of reports without reporting one individual student's 
information.

[[Page H8374]]

  So I am lost in understanding how it is we lose our minds around here 
about student information being disseminated. It exists. It can be 
protected.
  Let me talk real briefly about another myth that exists, that somehow 
tracking the student data will lead to a Federal rating system, the 
Federal rating system of educational programs of institutions.
  Well, first, the Department of Education has tried a number of rating 
systems over there, all with mixed success, at best, and I am trying to 
be polite. It is late in the evening. Let's not be too blunt. But they 
failed miserably in doing so. They tried to rate institutions based on 
cohort default rates, and those are being repealed by many as being 
inaccurate.
  They tried to rate institutions on something called gainful 
employment, but they only do gainful employment for career schools, 
because, hey, you know, no one goes to a university for gainful 
employment. I assure you, my guess is the Speaker did as well, you went 
to the university hoping for gainful employment. I doubt there is 
anyone in the room who didn't go to a college or university in hopes of 
gainful employment.
  The reality is the Department of Education, as they have implemented 
this, has tried to create these Federal rating systems and failed 
miserably. So I tell you what, we did something unique. The College 
Transparency Act explicitly prohibits the creation of a single database 
by the Department of Education and expressly prohibits using that 
database for a Federal rating system.
  I give up. I don't want the Department of Education telling us what a 
good education system is because look how well they have done so far. 
We will let consumers decide. We will give them information so they can 
decide. They can make a wise decision rather than thinking that Big 
Brother can make that decision for them.
  If the government were doing so well with it, why is it that every 
Member in this room has heard from their employers the terrible 
shortage we have of people in current technical education, of workers? 
If they were doing such a great job of ratings and informing people 
what their opportunities were, why are we currently struggling with the 
workforce we have?
  It is a disaster. Let's stop thinking we can fix it, and let's let 
consumers have the information they need to fix it.
  The bill enables the NCES to aggregate student information from 
relevant agencies with the responsibility that they had to protect that 
data, which they have done for years.
  So now they are doing--not create some massive Federal database in 
which everybody's name, Social Security number, is accessible so we can 
determine whether or not you are a successful student. It doesn't do 
that, not even close to that, never has. It provides information on an 
accurate basis by a program institution of what your likelihood of 
success is.
  Last but not least, I talked a little bit about it, is keeping 
personal information private, the fears about privacy, and that somehow 
we can't achieve that under the College Transparency Act.
  The College Transparency Act requires that data collection should be 
led by the National Center for Education Statistics. I apologize. I 
have been using the abbreviation NCES because it has been burned into 
my memory over the years. It is a statistical agency with strong 
protocols for securing data and protecting student privacy. It has an 
excellent track record for doing so.

  They have consulted with the private sector, pretty good folks, about 
how to continue to work on student privacy in that data. NCES is 
already required by law to develop and enforce standards to protect 
individual level data. As added protection, the act requires, the 
College Transparency Act requires, an institute utilize the latest 
Federal data security standards developed by the National Institute of 
Standards and Technology. We require that they implement those on an 
ongoing basis and they maintain those.
  I have to tell you, Mr. Speaker, that is not commonplace in the 
Federal Government at this point. We are going a step beyond what 
happens every day in many agencies.
  Further, your personal information, Mr. Smucker's or anybody else's, 
will never be available to the Department of Education or to the 
public. Your employment status will never be available. What will be 
available is whether all of us who took a program in Michigan State 
University--come on up, you would love the school, some time--whether 
or not you graduated, you got a job, and whether you are gainfully 
employed and making money. Now, wouldn't that be a great idea for the 
money you put into a college education? All the aggregate information 
is available on the programs and institutions we are talking about 
here.
  The data developed by the Treasury Department on income and 
employment, once it is transmitted to NCES, is literally blown up. The 
file no longer exists. You can't hack what isn't there.
  So I would ask, at this point in time, rather than continue to extol 
the virtues of the College Transparency Act, I would ask all the 
Members to look at the act. We have a number of cosponsors at this 
point in time that I am very proud of. It is a bipartisan bill. I would 
ask them to look at the act, look at what it is achieving, and if they 
have questions, let's hear those questions, and let's make an effort to 
move this forward.
  We are already well into the decisionmaking process for young people 
to go to a postsecondary education program next year. It is too late 
for them to get this information, but, you know what, we can get it the 
following year. And the question I would ask is: How long are we going 
to wait while we are spending $160 billion in direct student aid alone 
hoping to get an outcome when we can do better and the ability to do 
that is at our fingertips?
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

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