Cassidy Eyes Final Push to Pass College Transparency Act

For nearly a decade, Sen. Bill Cassidy has sought to advance legislation that would collect more information about how college students fare after they graduate. And though the effort to turn this bill into a law has consistently been an uphill climb, the senator hasn’t backed down from the fight.

Now, with just five months left in office, Cassidy is making one last attempt to leverage mounting bipartisan support and get his College Transparency Act across the finish line after a Senate committee voted 21-to-1 to advance it last week.

Some political experts are skeptical Cassidy can pass CTA, saying the bill faces steep opposition from two key Republicans in the House and passing it would require a lot of political muscle. But if the Louisiana Republican does secure the win, higher ed lobbyists say it would be a major advancement for the nation’s college data infrastructure and help better inform students’ decisions on what college programs they can afford.

And even if Cassidy doesn’t pass the bill, they add, the momentum he generated for CTA is still a solid victory to hang his hat on after more than 10 years as a denator and more than 15 on the Hill. Cassidy lost his bid for reelection in May.

“Washington D.C. can be a sea of political noise. But within that sea, there are some lawmakers who are focused on what matters most—policy and outcomes—and that describes Chairman Cassidy’s focus over his tenure,” said Craig Lindwarm, a senior leader at the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities who has worked closely with Cassidy over the years. “He is centered on the potential of higher education to advance the nation and social mobility of students.”

But that’s not to say Cassidy has gone without criticism. Since he became chair of the Health, Education, Labor and Pension Committee in 2025, Cassidy has overseen a number of contested confirmation hearings for Trump nominees, casting a deciding vote of approval for now Secretary of Health, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The two have clashed since over vaccine policy.

He was also a key player in crafting and advancing the largest overhaul to federal student aid in more than a decade, establishing new loan limits for graduate students and a fresh accountability metric for colleges that tests student income after graduation—both of which have received significant pushback since the law passed last summer.

Growing Bipartisan Support

Nevertheless, before he leaves office, Cassidy is trying to cement his legacy as a positive one.

And though he’s prioritized a handful of bills focused on better supporting students with disabilities and clarifying financial aid offers, the College Transparency Act appears to sit atop his to-do list.

CTA was formally introduced in 2017, but its roots trace back to the Student Right to Know Before You Go Act which was first proposed in 2011. Both shared the same goal—better informing students about college costs and outcomes. Specifically, CTA would overturn a longstanding ban on student-level databases. From there, it directs the Education Department to connect the dots between existing federal data sets and create a secure network that students and college administrators alike can use to evaluate patterns in enrollment, degree completion and post-graduation outcomes.

As of the most recent Senate committee meeting, Cassidy said more than 75 higher education lobbying groups and student advocacy organizations have endorsed the bill. And at certain points, CTA has gained traction, like when it passed the House in 2022 under Democrat control.

But over the years, efforts to advance the bill have largely been derailed by student privacy concerns. And in many cases, Rep. Virginia Foxx, the North Carolina Republican who sponsored the existing ban on student-level data, led the opposing crusade.

At one point while Foxx was serving as chair of the House education committee in 2024, she considered a more limited version of the bill in her broader College Cost Reduction Act. But even then, the database would have only included students receiving federal aid. Cassidy’s goal was to collect data on all students.

Repeatedly, Foxx has argued that CTA would violate personal privacy rights and put students at risk of major data breaches. Now, Rep. Tim Walberg of Michigan, who took over as chair in 2025, has taken a similar position.

“No one is opposed to better data. Students, families, and taxpayers deserve clear, reliable information about college outcomes. But the College Transparency Act goes far beyond that,” Walberg told Inside Higher Ed. “We should improve transparency without sacrificing privacy or creating a system that exceeds the federal government’s legitimate role.”

To get lawmakers like Foxx and Walberg on board, Cassidy said he’s focused on debunking the privacy concerns and instead helping students make more informed decisions about where to enroll, what to study and whether it will provide a return on investment.

“If the concern is about privacy, that horse is out of the barn,” he told Inside Higher Ed immediately following the committee vote. “All the information that is included in CTA is already being reported … The federal government has this data.”

So if the concern is about students who can’t pay back their loans—which Cassidy suggested it should be—then lawmakers should be “firmly in support of CTA.”

“I’m hoping that a correct understanding of everything I just said will allow [key House Republicans] to advance the bill,” he explained.

Demand ‘As Strong as It’s Ever Been’

But even higher ed lobbyists who support the legislation are highly skeptical that CTA will become law before Cassidy leaves office.

Emmanual Guillory from the American Council on Education put the odds at “slim to none.”

But Lindwarm from APLU, who has worked alongside Cassidy in developing the bill since day one, is hopeful in part because lawmakers are increasingly questioning the value of higher ed and demanding better information about institutions.

“The need for the bill is just as strong as it’s ever been,” he said. “There’s been some improvements in the higher education data landscape, [like the College Scorecard] but the improvements still fall far short, and ultimately we can’t get to where we need to be without the legislation.”

Either way, Guillory noted that Cassidy’s work has not been in vain. The conversations about the CTA have built on one another.

“So even though it may not be addressed in the 119th Congress, when we come back around—depending on who’s in charge—then these conversations may continue,” he said.

If there will be any means for CTA to pass this year, Tim Carlton, a higher ed policy expert and former Cassidy adviser, says it will likely be as an attachment to a larger bill, which has been how many recent pivotal higher education policy changes have become law.

“This is the epitome of why Congress is broken, because one person can grind something to a halt, even though it has overwhelming support,” Carlton said. “But the senator did what other Congress members don’t and said let’s still put it to a vote.”

And in doing so, he added, Cassidy “demonstrat[ed] the bill’s efficacy.”

A Legacy of ‘Rolling Up His Sleeves’

Either way, Carlton and other policy experts say Cassidy’s commitment to this bill speaks to his broader legacy on higher ed policy and his drive to improve colleges and universities.

Carlton recalled one of his first experiences interacting with college presidents while on Cassidy’s staff.

“Often policy advisers take on meetings with college presidents on behalf of their member,” he said. But “my first experience with Cassidy was going alongside him to meet with college presidents at Washington Mardi Gras. He met with every university president who came into D.C. and he always prioritized maintaining those good relationships.”

Lindwarm noted that, over the years, Cassidy has returned to Louisiana State University, his alma mater for both undergraduate and medical studies, to teach. Before becoming a senator, Cassidy taught medical students at the LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans and since then he’s taught multiple public administration and policy classes.

“What better demonstrates the belief that he has in higher education and public service that not only is he doing it in the policy realm, but also rolling up his sleeves and teaching a course himself,” Lindwarm said.

Cassidy himself said he’d like to be remembered for leading “historic reforms” to “make college more affordable,” “increase Americans’ access to quality education options” and “empower students with information … that gives them the best chance of success.”

Across the board, Cassidy’s work shows persistence and dedication to the things he believes in, said Guillory from ACE, and CTA is a prime example of that.

“It doesn’t really matter if the House is going to consider CTA or not,” Guillory said. “Mr. Cassidy had to at least put the stake in the ground and say ‘This is what I believe is right, and this is what I’m going to stand for,’ and that’s what he did.”