Prospective college students and their families would get a much more detailed picture of what school actually costs — and how much debt students leave with — under this rewrite of the Higher Education Act's consumer-information rules. The Education Department would have 18 months to expand the College Scorecard website to show costs, grant aid, loan amounts, repayment rates, and post-graduation earnings for every Title IV institution, broken down by income, race, sex, disability, enrollment status, and year. A new Universal Net Price Calculator would let a user enter their information once and see estimated annual and total net price across multiple schools and programs, with the option to factor in tuition-guarantee programs. Within two years of the calculator's launch, every college receiving federal funds would have to publish its own calculator or link to the Department's. The rules take effect for the 2027–2028 academic year and apply to students receiving federal financial aid. It's a pure transparency play — no new tuition caps or aid changes — meant to help families shop colleges the way they compare other major purchases.
Congressional Summary
Student Financial Clarity Act of 2025This bill requires certain actions to provide consumers (e.g., enrolled and prospective students) with additional financial information on institutions of higher education (IHEs) that participate in federal student aid programs.Specifically, the Department of Education (ED) must update its College Scorecard website with additional information, including detailed data (e.g., costs, financial aid, student debt and repayment, and earnings) for each program of study at each IHE. (The College Scorecard is a comparison tool for information on school sizes, settings, graduation rates, average costs, and salary ranges per field of study.)Additionally, ED must establish a Universal Net Price Calculator on a dedicated ED website and annually update the data. Among other elements, this calculator must (1) allow an individual to select and compare multiple IHEs and programs of study, (2) provide the individual with net price estimates for each selected IHE and each selected program of study, and (3) provide access to information in an electronic and downloadable format.Each IHE must make publicly available on its website either the net price calculator developed by ED or the IHE's own calculator (if it includes, at a minimum, the same data elements of ED's calculator).
Legislative Subjects
Details
- Congress
- 119th
- Chamber
- House
- Status
- summarized
- Action
- Reported to House
- Action Date
- 2026-01-21
- Date Added
- 2026-04-19