Published: April 2015

Time to improve an outdated education data collection system

Coalition: Postsecondary Data Collaborative (PostsecData)

Consumer Action joined PostsecData coalition advocates in answering Senator Lamar Alexander’s (R-TN) call for input on the Higher Education Act reauthorization with resounding support for a federal student unit record system. The coalition's recommendations would help Congress improve its current federal student data collection system by collecting the data metrics legislators and advocates need to improve postsecondary opportunities for students in their communities, shrink opportunity and achievement gaps and improve college financial aid programs.

Consumer Action joined Postsecondary Data Collaborative (PostsecData), a diverse set of organizations committed to high-quality postsecondary data, in releasing a list of recommendations to the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor & Pensions (HELP). Their recommendations will help universities, Congress and advocates tackle some of today’s most pressing postsecondary challenges, including:

• Empowering consumers with valuable information
• Improving financial aid programs
• Stewarding federal investment in colleges and universities
• Ensuring states have the information needed to steer their own education policies
• Providing institutions with the data they need to guide effective practice.

The coalition hopes the recommended changes to the current federal postsecondary education data collection process will better inform federal policy, including, but not limited to, the next generation of the Higher Education Act and the emerging college ratings system, and that policymakers will recognize that effective data use can support student success, identify and shrink opportunity and achievement gaps, promote efficiencies, and enhance learning and employability.

Other Organizations

Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE) | Association of Community College Trustees (ACCT) } Association for Institutional Research (AIR) | California Competes | The Campaign for College Opportunity | Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) | Complete College America | Consumer Action | Council for Opportunity in Education (COE) | The Education Trust | Equal Justice Works | Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce | Institute for Higher Education Policy (IHEP) | National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC) | National Association of State Directors of Career Technical Education Consortium (NASDCTEc) | National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (NASFAA) | National Center for Higher Education Management Systems (NCHEMS) | National Council of La Raza (NCLR) | New America | Scholarship America | Southern Education Foundation (SEF) | State Higher Education Executive Officers Association (SHEEO) | The Institute for College Access and Success (TICAS) | U.S. Chamber of Commerce | Veterans Education Success | Workforce Data Quality Campaign (WDQC) | Young Invincibles

More Information

For more information, please visit PostsecData's website.

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Time to improve an outdated education data collection system   (postsecdata_collaborative_help_response.pdf)