Federal Plan to Keep Data on Students Worries Some

["Hamaker, Chuck" <cahamake@email.uncc.edu>]

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/29/education/29college.html
NYTIMES
November 29, 2004
Federal Plan to Keep Data on Students Worries Some
By DIANA JEAN SCHEMO

WASHINGTON, Nov. 28 - A proposal by the federal government to create a
vast new database of enrollment records on all college and university
students is raising concerns that the move will erode the privacy rights
of students.

Until now, universities have provided individual student information to
the federal government only in connection with federally financed student
aid. Otherwise, colleges and universities submit information about overall
enrollment, graduation, prices and financial aid without identifying
particular students.

For the first time, however, colleges and universities would have to give
the government data on all students individually, whether or not they
received financial assistance, with their Social Security numbers.

The bid arises from efforts in Congress and elsewhere to extend the
growing emphasis on school accountability in elementary and high schools
to postsecondary education. Supporters say that government oversight of
individual student data will make it easier for taxpayers and policy
makers to judge the quality of colleges and universities through more
reliable statistics on graduation, transfers and retention.

The change would also allow federal officials to track individual students
as they journey through the higher education system. In recent years,
increasing numbers of students have been attending more than one
university, dropping out or taking longer than the traditional four years
to graduate. Current reporting practices cannot capture such trends; a
mobile student is recorded as a new student at each institution.

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