After the 2022 midterms, data suggested the gap in voter turnout between community colleges and public four-year institutions had narrowed from 9 percentage points in 2020 to 3 in 2022. That prompted groups and campus officials to redouble efforts to support community colleges, and advocates hoped 2024 data would show whether those efforts fully closed the gap, Clarissa Unger of the Students Learn Students Vote Coalition said.
But that data is now on ice. In March, researchers at Tufts University announced they halted releasing statistics from the National Study of Learning, Voting and Engagement (NSLVE), the primary source of school-level student voter registration and turnout data. The National Student Clearinghouse — a key provider of student enrollment information used to produce NSLVE reports — also pulled out of the study after more than a decade of partnership.
The sudden pause stems from an investigation by the U.S. Department of Education under the Trump administration. In a February press release, the department said it launched a probe into unspecified “reports” that NSLVE may violate federal student data privacy law (FERPA). The department has not identified the source of those reports and declined to comment to NPR.
Many privacy experts and those involved with the study say the accusations echo claims from right-wing election activists and that Tufts and the Clearinghouse maintain they have not violated the law. Tufts has said NSLVE, launched in 2013, is nonpartisan and studies whether students vote, not who they vote for.
The investigation traces back to activists who critiqued NSLVE. Cleta Mitchell, a conservative election lawyer who participated in efforts to overturn the 2020 election, recounted in a March online meeting that Heather Honey — a right-wing activist who later took a position at the Department of Homeland Security — had produced a report alleging FERPA violations and had urged Education Secretary Linda McMahon to “stop this.” Mitchell described the Clearinghouse’s decision to leave NSLVE as “100% the result” of such activism. Honey and others have raised particular concerns about Catalist, a Democratic-aligned data firm that previously provided public voter records used in matching processes, though Tufts maintains compliance with privacy rules.
Right-wing organizations publicly welcomed the Clearinghouse’s exit. The America First Policy Institute, linked to former Trump administration officials including McMahon, praised the development as protecting students from exploitation of sensitive data. Campaign Legal Center director Brendan Fischer warned the episode illustrates how election conspiracy networks are influencing government policy; he also noted the Trump administration itself faces legal scrutiny over its handling of various sensitive data sources.
The Education Department in February sent guidance to colleges advising them not to use “any NSLVE report or data this year” while the investigation proceeds. The letter warned of potential enforcement options, including withholding or clawing back federal funds, if institutions were found to be in violation. That guidance has had a chilling effect, particularly on small, under-resourced schools that may lack in-house legal counsel and would be wary of risking federal financial aid.
Amanda Fuchs Miller, who previously held a deputy assistant secretary role for higher education under the Biden administration, called the letter a “scare tactic,” noting it’s unusual to circulate such warnings without findings of wrongdoing. Amelia Vance, who leads the Public Interest Privacy Center, said past Education Department privacy probes were generally kept quiet to encourage voluntary fixes, and that the public nature of this investigation is unusual.
Campus leaders say the loss of up-to-date NSLVE feedback comes at a critical time. Many institutions use NSLVE reports to evaluate and improve voter engagement efforts year to year — for example, to see which student groups improved and where to focus outreach. Melissa Michelson, dean of arts and sciences at Menlo College, said she would favor protecting her institution’s federal funding over participating in NSLVE if forced to choose, but noted that without 2024 data schools must act in 2026 with incomplete information.
The NSLVE investigation is the latest source of confusion for colleges about federal guidance on student voting. Last August, the Education Department issued a letter suggesting schools could limit recipients of mail voter registration forms to avoid “aiding and abetting voter fraud,” and said federal work-study funds could not be used to support student voter registration or polling assistance. That guidance conflicted with longstanding interpretations of federal law requiring certain institutions to make voter registration forms widely available to enrolled students and with the Federal Student Aid Handbook’s treatment of on-campus work, prompting calls from Senate Democrats, led by Sen. Cory Booker, for the department to reconsider.
Advocates warn the combined effect of these actions — the NSLVE probe and prior guidance — is to chill civic engagement work on campuses, especially at community colleges and other institutions with fewer resources. Clarissa Unger and other student-voting advocates lament the loss of a trusted, nonpartisan data source at a time when efforts to increase youth turnout are intensifying.
The Department of Education has not publicly identified the complainants behind its inquiry. The Trump-era probe, activists say, aligns with a broader pattern of conservative scrutiny of civic engagement efforts that they perceive as favoring Democratic turnout. Legal and civic groups monitoring the issue note the irony that administration officials who have faced criticism for their own data practices are pursuing enforcement over a study designed to protect student privacy.
For now, more than 1,000 colleges and universities that have participated in NSLVE must decide whether to continue voter mobilization work without the latest feedback or to scale back for fear of enforcement. The pause leaves unanswered whether the narrowing turnout gap for community college students will hold, widen, or close — and it raises broader questions about how federal investigations and political pressure can influence research and civic engagement on college campuses.
Edited by Benjamin Swasey