To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to require certain institutions of higher education to provide notice of tuition levels for students.
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
IntroducedMs. Perez (for herself, Mr. Peters, Mr. Connolly, Mr. Fitzpatrick, …
Summary
What This Bill Does
The Truth in Tuition Act requires colleges and universities that participate in federal student aid programs to provide admitted students with clear, upfront information about future tuition costs. Schools must either commit to a multi-year tuition schedule or provide a single-year schedule with estimates of total costs for subsequent years. This aims to help students and families better understand the full cost of a degree before enrolling.
Who Benefits and How
College students and their families benefit by receiving transparent information about tuition costs for the entire duration of their program, making it easier to plan financially and compare schools. Consumer advocacy groups gain a new tool to hold institutions accountable for tuition increases. The Department of Education gains clearer oversight of institutional pricing practices.
Who Bears the Burden and How
Colleges and universities face new administrative requirements to create and maintain multi-year tuition schedules or cost projections. Financial aid offices and registrars must develop systems to track and disclose historical accuracy of their estimates if they choose the single-year option. Schools that choose the estimate approach must publicly report how accurate their past predictions have been, which could create reputational pressure to limit tuition growth.
Key Provisions
- Institutions must provide either: (1) a binding multi-year tuition and fee schedule showing costs for the full duration of a student's program, or (2) a single-year schedule plus non-binding estimates of future costs based on current family circumstances
- Schools using estimates must disclose the historical accuracy of their predictions by reporting the average percentage difference between past estimates and actual costs
- Multi-year schedules can include any level of projected increases or decreases from year to year that the institution determines appropriate
- The Secretary of Education may waive these requirements for schools experiencing severe economic distress, dramatic cuts in state or federal aid, or other extraordinary circumstances
- The law takes effect 120 days after enactment
Evidence Chain:
This summary is derived from the structured analysis below. See "Detailed Analysis" for per-title beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
Primary Purpose
Requires institutions of higher education to provide multi-year tuition schedules or estimates to admitted students to improve transparency in college costs.
Policy Domains
Legislative Strategy
"Increase cost transparency in higher education to help students and families make informed decisions and potentially pressure institutions to control tuition growth"
Likely Beneficiaries
- College students and families
- Consumer advocacy groups
- Federal student aid administrators
Likely Burden Bearers
- Colleges and universities (administrative compliance)
- University financial aid offices
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "the_secretary"
- → Secretary of Education
- "the_institution"
- → Institution of higher education participating in federal student aid programs
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
The difference in percentage terms between previous year estimates and actual net costs for students at the institution
A schedule showing tuition and fees for multiple years of a student's program
A single-year schedule plus a nonbinding estimate of net costs after financial aid for multiple years, assuming constant family circumstances
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology