A program ostensibly designed increase student voter turnout is being dissolved after the Trump administration accused it of illegally sharing private data for the purpose of “influencing elections.”
The National Student Clearinghouse (NSC), a nonprofit organization that collects data from thousands of universities, is terminating its partnership with Tufts University’s National Study of Learning, Voting, and Engagement (NSLVE) program, it announced last week. The Department of Education (ED) in early February opened an investigation into both NSC and Tufts based on reports that the program was illegally sharing personal student data with organizations that “aim to influence elections.” The Daily Caller News Foundation was the first to break the news of ED’s investigation. (EXCLUSIVE: Ed Dept Launches Investigation Into Organization Allegedly Leaking Student Data To ‘Influence Elections’)
NSC president and CEO Daniel Hae-Dong Lee announced the end of the partnership in an email that notably did not offer a reason for the decision. In that message, Lee said the NSC “remains fully committed to FERPA compliance and the responsible stewardship of student data.” The organization will still work with Tufts on matters outside of the NSLVE program, he said.
The termination will take effect in March.
People cast their ballots during early voting for the US general election at the University of Michigan Museum of Art Gallery in Ann Arbor, Michigan on October 31, 2024. (Photo by Jeff Kowalsky/AFP via Getty Images)
ED’s Student Privacy Policy Office (SPPO) told the DCNF in February that, based on multiple reports it has received, it is concerned the partnership resulted in data being shared with third-party political organizations that “aim to influence elections.” The federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) prohibits institutions from sharing personal student data without consent.
Lee insisted in the email that the National Student Clearinghouse has not processed data for NSLVE since its 2025 report, which used data from the 2024 election cycle.
The partnership was created following pressure from the Obama administration for universities to play a bigger role in student voter participation. It provides reports to “more than one thousand campuses” to help colleges and universities “understand their students’ voting and registration rates” and offer “tailored resources and research for institutions to deploy these data to strengthen civic and political learning, close equity gaps in participation, and promote engagement on campus and beyond.”
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