This week, Democratic attorneys general from 17 states filed a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s expansion of college admissions data collection for the Integrated Postsecondary Data System (IPEDS). The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, and involves Massachusetts, California, Maryland, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawai’i, Illinois, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin.

The plaintiffs argue that the “scope, breadth, and rushed process” of implementing the new reporting requirements harms institutions. Even with limited guidance from the Education Department and an unusually fast turnaround, institutions face potentially severe consequences for noncompliance, including potential loss of federal funding.

The plaintiffs also claim that the Trump administration is attempting to unlawfully transform the nonpartisan National Center for Education Statistics into a “mechanism for law enforcement and the furthering of partisan policy aims.”

Education Department Press Secretary Ellen Keast defended the new requirements: “American taxpayers invest over $100 billion into higher education each year and deserve transparency on how their dollars are being spent. The Department’s efforts will expand an existing transparency tool to show how universities are taking race into consideration in admissions. What exactly are State AGs trying to shield universities from?” [POLITICO Pro, subscription model]

Catch Up Quick

Collectively called the “Admissions and Consumer Transparency Supplement” (ACTS),” the new requirements are intended to uncover “whether institutions of higher education are using race-based preferencing in their admissions process.”

  • Under ACTS, all four-year institutions that receive federal funding must submit six years worth of applicant, admissions, and enrollment data for undergraduate and some graduate and professional programs—disaggregated by student race and sex—to the National Center for Education Statistics, which oversees IPEDS.
  • Data would also be disaggregated by standardized test score quintiles, GPA quintiles, and first-generation status. Colleges would also be required to share data points on family income, Pell grant eligibility, and parents’ education level.

The new requirements were first announced via Presidential Memorandum last August and set in motion by Education Secretary McMahon the same day. Following notice and public comment, the Office of Management and Budget approved ACTS in December.

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