Blog

Students need accurate, responsive, and timely support to identify and assess the overwhelming array of choices they face in their postsecondary journeys, ranging from comparing student loans and grants, to applying to programs and institutions, to ultimately navigating to and through college and achieving a high-quality first post-college job. Last week, America Forward submitted comments to the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee’s request for information on ways to improve transparency in higher education to lower costs and ensure students and families choose the best college option for them. 

Ensuring that public policy supports effective, innovative postsecondary navigation is a priority for  America Forward. The America Forward Coalition includes many leading non-profit college access and success providers that deliver critical, evidence-based postsecondary navigation services, including financial aid advising; program and college selection; retention and completion coaching; support for basic needs; and career navigation, ranging from in-school internships to post-college career pathways.  America Forward’s submitted comments lifted up these organizations’ voices – including highlights from Beyond 12, Bottom Line, College Advising Corps, and College Possible – and emphasized the following points:

• For many students, effective advising is a necessary precondition to making effective use of enhanced data on costs and value of institutions and programs. Strong data is necessary, but not sufficient. Colleges demonstrate very different returns on investment, even at similar levels of selectivity, and only a small fraction of community college students who intend to do so end up completing a four-year degree. In addition, program choice makes an enormous difference for students’ outcomes –  particularly for students from lower-income families. However, there remains a tremendous unmet need for effective advising notwithstanding its proven value.

• Nonprofit student success organizations have spearheaded some of the most creative, evidence-based approaches to postsecondary navigation. Our comments highlight innovative efforts from four America Forward Coalition members – Beyond 12, Bottom Line, College Advising Corps, and College Possible – as well as Coalition member uAspire’s leadership on key financial aid transparency reforms.

• • The federal government should substantially expand its support for high-quality nonprofit postsecondary navigation efforts.  As a spring 2025 report by America Forward and the National College Access Network found, the vast majority of nonprofit college access and success organizations receive no meaningful federal support for their work, seriously limiting their ability to scale. One major reason is that nonprofit organizations are not directly eligible to receive most federal TIRO and GEAR UP funds dedicated to college access and success. Investing in these organizations’ efforts to help students identify high-value programs and institutions, navigate their financial aid options, and successfully complete their postsecondary journeys and transition to a strong career option would provide tremendous value to students and the public. 
• Federal action is necessary to strengthen transparency and inform strong decisionmaking. America Forward strongly supports passing the bipartisan, bicameral Understanding the True Cost of College Act, as championed by America Forward Coalition member uAspire, to level the playing field and support a transparent higher education financing market. We also support the similarly bipartisan, bicameral College Transparency Act to address the College Scorecard’s lack of data on outcomes for students who do not receive grants or loans. Finally, we emphasize in our comments the importance of strong, transparent outcomes reporting, supported by high-quality administrative data, to support the upcoming implementation of Workforce Pell (see our recent, separate comments on Workforce Pell here).

America Forward deeply appreciates the Senate HELP Committee’s interest in public input on this critical issue. We look forward to continuing to work with our Coalition members to advance efforts to strengthen support for high-quality postsecondary navigation.