Update 7/30/26: Just found out that the CTA passed the Senate HELP committee this morning, 11-1.

A bill called the College Transparency Act is being considered by the Senate to overturn the prohibition against the federal government collecting personally identifiable student information and instead would authorize the creation of a new federal database to track all students enrolled in a higher education institution throughout their lives, including their enrollment status, attendance, age, gender, and race.

This data would then be aggregated with information held by other federal agencies after these students leave college, through agreements with the Department of Defense, the Veterans Administration, the Census Bureau, the Social Security Administration, the Office of Federal Student Aid, and potentially other agencies added over time as well.  

Whatever guardrails to protect student privacy and anonymity in the current bill could easily be weakened over time, or violated, with the data breached or misused to target current and former students simply because they are members of a disfavored racial, ethnic, religious, or other vulnerable group.  

Please send this email to your Senators today to urge them to oppose this unwarrented violation of privacy!