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Congressional Research Service
Version 00 · Introduced in House · Feb 6, 2025
Truth in Tuition Act of 2025
This bill requires institutions of higher education (IHEs) that participate in federal student aid programs to provide admitted students with information related to tuition and fees. Specifically, the bill requires an IHE to provide to a student (1) a multi-year tuition and fee schedule; or (2) a single-year tuition and fee schedule and a nonbinding, multi-year estimate of net costs after financial aid is awarded. The Department of Education may waive this requirement under certain circumstances.
People & committees
Rep. Perez, Marie Gluesenkamp [D-WA-3] · D–WA
Legislative record
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Referred to the House Committee on Education and Workforce.
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Primary sources
Text links open the official source. We also preserved the text version used in the PlainBill explanation below.
No related bills are listed in this snapshot. This does not establish whether the proposal has appeared in earlier Congresses.
Source last updated: Jul 21, 2025. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
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PlainBill explanation
Based on the full Introduced in House · 2025-02-06 text. This explanation has not received human editorial review. This overview describes the proposal’s major provisions; it does not establish what its real-world effects would be.
The proposed Truth in Tuition Act of 2025 would require covered institutions to give admitted undergraduate and graduate students information about costs across their programs. Institutions could provide either a multi-year tuition and fee schedule or a one-year schedule plus a nonbinding estimate of costs after financial aid. The proposal would allow institutions to choose increases or decreases of any size; it would not cap tuition.
This Act may be cited as the Truth in Tuition Act of 2025.
The institution will provide to each student admitted to an undergraduate or graduate program— (i) a multi-year tuition and fee schedule; or (ii) a single-year tuition and fee schedule, and a nonbinding, multi-year estimate of net costs after all financial aid is awarded, assuming constant family and student income, assets, and relevant circumstances.
may include a percentage or dollar increase or decrease of any size the institution determines to be appropriate from one year to the next
The bill would add the disclosure requirements as a new paragraph in section 487(a) of the Higher Education Act of 1965.
Section 487(a) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1094(a)) is amended by adding at the end the following new paragraph
An institution choosing a one-year tuition and fee schedule would also have to give each admitted student a nonbinding multi-year estimate of costs after all financial aid. That estimate would assume that family and student income, assets, and relevant circumstances stay constant.
The institution will provide to each student admitted to an undergraduate or graduate program— (i) a multi-year tuition and fee schedule; or (ii) a single-year tuition and fee schedule, and a nonbinding, multi-year estimate of net costs after all financial aid is awarded, assuming constant family and student income, assets, and relevant circumstances.
Multi-year schedules and estimates would have to show costs separately for each year of the program's normal duration.
Multi-year schedules and estimates required by subparagraph (A)—
shall indicate, on a year-by-year basis, costs for the normal duration of such student's undergraduate or graduate program.
Institutions using the one-year schedule option would have to include, with each multi-year estimate, the average percentage difference between previous estimates and students' actual costs after financial aid at that institution.
Institutions that elect a single-year tuition and fee schedule under subparagraph (A)(ii) shall include with each multi-year estimate provided under such subparagraph the average deviation, in percentage terms, between previous year estimates and actual net costs for students at their institution.
The Secretary would have to waive the disclosure requirements in subparagraph (A) when an institution demonstrates that compliance is impracticable because of events causing severe economic distress, a dramatic reduction in state or federal aid, or another circumstance the Secretary considers appropriate.
The Secretary shall waive the requirements of subparagraph (A) if the institution demonstrates to the Secretary that the requirements of subparagraph (A) are not practicable because of the occurrence of one or more events causing the institution severe economic distress, dramatic reduction of State or Federal aid, or any other circumstance determined to be appropriate by the Secretary.
The amendment would take effect 120 days after enactment, if the bill became law.
The amendment made by subsection (a) shall be effective on the date that is 120 days after the date of enactment of this Act.
The supplied official-actions snapshot, updated July 21, 2025, records introduction in the House and referral to the House Committee on Education and Workforce on February 6, 2025.
Source snapshot updated 2025-07-21T19:44:15Z. 2025-02-06: Referred to the House Committee on Education and Workforce. 2025-02-06: Introduced in House
A closer look
Reviewed version: Introduced in House · 2025-02-06. These findings describe provisions and who may benefit; they are not judgments of waste, corruption, or motive.
This review covers the supplied bill text. “None identified” does not rule out provisions in later versions or accompanying reports and disclosures.
Provisions outside the bill’s main subject, or policy changes attached to appropriations.
None identified in the reviewed text
No unrelated provision or policy change attached to appropriations was identified in the complete supplied introduced text. This conclusion does not establish absence in other versions or accompanying materials.
Spending directed to particular recipients or places outside ordinary competitive or formula-based allocation.
None identified in the reviewed text
No congressionally directed spending for particular recipients or places was identified in the complete supplied introduced text. This conclusion does not establish absence in other versions or accompanying materials.
Narrow exceptions, exemptions, or preferential treatment that warrant a closer look.
Findings to examine
The supplied introduced text contains a conditional exemption from its main disclosure requirement. This classification does not imply that the exemption is unjustified.
Institutions demonstrating that disclosure is impracticable because of severe economic distress, a dramatic reduction in state or federal aid, or another circumstance accepted by the Secretary would receive a mandatory waiver of subparagraph (A). This gives qualifying institutions an exception to the bill's central disclosure obligation; eligibility also depends on the Secretary's discretion over additional circumstances.
The Secretary shall waive the requirements of subparagraph (A) if the institution demonstrates to the Secretary that the requirements of subparagraph (A) are not practicable because of the occurrence of one or more events causing the institution severe economic distress, dramatic reduction of State or Federal aid, or any other circumstance determined to be appropriate by the Secretary.
Full text preserved for this analysis. Legislative record snapshot: Jul 21, 2025. How PlainBill uses AI