Washington Monthly - September/October 2014 - 46

mobile shoppers gas mileage data on specific models, or keeping prospective investors in the dark about whether the mutual funds they're looking at have risen or fallen in value over
time. The government could provide that information by marrying student unit record data with payroll and other figures it
already collects through student loan programs and the Social
Security Administration.
In the last few years, interest in overturning the student
unit record ban and providing better information about college outcomes has taken root. In the Senate, Oregon Democrat Ron Wyden, Florida Republican Marco Rubio, and Virginia Democrat Mark Warner are sponsoring the Student Right
to Know Before You Go Act, which would allow the federal
government to track students' postgraduate earnings, federal
loan debt, and financial aid, among other things. The information would be used to show whether the students at particular institutions get a good bang for their buck and whether

Republican lawmakers
portray Obama's proposed
college rating system as a
burdensome new regulation
pushed by an out-of-control
presidency-a perfect
illustration of their broader
battle with Obama. And
behind the scenes, the higher
ed lobby is stoking that fight.
schools are making good use of taxpayer dollars. A version of
the legislation has been introduced in the House by California
Republican Duncan Hunter.
Cracks are starting to appear in the coalition of interest
groups that helped NAICU defeat student unit record keeping
the last time around. Trade associations representing public
colleges in particular have determined that opposing federal
student unit data no longer makes sense for them. Many of
their member schools are already required to report that information to their states. And since so many of their students
are now part-timers, adult learners, and transfer students,
and therefore are not being counted, these colleges and universities are realizing that better data might show their institutional performance in a more favorable light.
NAICU remains steadfastly opposed to student unit record keeping on the grounds that it would violate student privacy, though its critics say the organization is likely more concerned about protecting its underperforming members-the
46

September/October 2014

ones that are expensive, but have low graduation and job placement rates-than shielding students from federal overreach.
NAICU's Flanagan disputes that claim, saying reform advocates haven't laid out exactly what information they want the
government to have or even how it would be used. "NAICU's
concern about creating a national student unit record system
has always been, and continues to be, based on privacy concerns for students," she said. "Saying we are trying to avoid accountability is a smokescreen for those who advocate for a national student tracking system but refuse to acknowledge or
address the significant privacy issues for students and parents
that the creation of such a system raises." Flanagan also raised
concerns that linking wage data to a person's college experience could have the unintended consequence of pushing people away from service-oriented jobs that pay less. "This is a separate policy question," she said. "Should you judge the value of
an education based on how much money somebody makes?"
If Washington were a rational place, the political path
forward for reform advocates would be obvious. First, they
could take advantage of the fractures among the Big Six and
push some version of the Wyden-Rubio bill through Congress. Then, with the underlying federal data problems fixed,
the administration could implement a rating system with
confidence that the best arguments against it-and perhaps
at least some of the political resistance to it-would have
disappeared.
Washington, however, is far from rational these days.
Despite growing support for student unit records, almost no
one thinks legislation allowing it will pass in the foreseeable
future, especially in the GOP-controlled House. At the same
time, despite growing opposition to the rating system, almost
no one thinks that the efforts by Lamar Alexander and others to bar the Obama administration from using existing federal funds to build it will pass. Even if they did, Obama could
veto them.
So the administration is expected to use its power and
put forth a proposed new rating this fall, but one that, in recognition of the data limitations, is less clear and definitive
than reformers wanted or opponents feared. The administration is gambling that once the rating system is up and running, the higher ed lobby will decide that improving it makes
more sense than continuing to fight it, thus hastening the day
when a student unit record bill can pass Congress.
The danger is that the inevitable imperfections in the rating system will be used by opponents as evidence that the federal government doesn't know what it's doing and shouldn't
be in the business of regulating colleges, thus making passage
of a student unit record bill less likely. Which of these scenarios proves true only time will tell.
Laura M. Colarusso is a freelance writer who has written for a variety of
publications, including Newsweek, the Boston Globe, and the (Newark)
Star-Ledger. Jon Marcus is the higher education editor at the Hechinger
Report, a nonprofit, nonpartisan education news outlet based at
Teachers College, Columbia University.

Washington Monthly - September/October 2014

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Washington Monthly - September/October 2014