Public Higher Education and Voluntary Transparency

The “higher-education lobby” isn’t a singular force opposed to improved data, increased transparency and greater oversight. Public colleges and universities, which educate nearly three-quarters of all students, have been fierce advocates of lifting the legal ban that blocks the federal government from providing comprehensive aggregate data on student outcomes. We want more transparency of higher-education outcomes, including employment data and comprehensive graduation rates. Due to a federal ban on student-level data, the federal graduation rate excludes part-time and transfer students despite 55% of bachelor’s degree recipients attending more than one institution before graduating.