Educators, social advocates say federal College Database could impact Hispanics

A federal proposal to create a national database of all college students has raised concerns within the education community. Some fear the system is another step toward a "Big Brother" society and could discourage Hispanics and other immigrants from seeking a degree. The U.S. Department of Education says it wants more information about students as a way to better track trends such as retention, graduation rates and net tuition. The agency wants to create a unit record system at the federal level that would collect data from individual student records. "The department is holding public meetings with key stakeholders from schools, states and other interested parties to get feedback and suggestions," agency spokeswoman Stephanie Babyak said in an e-mail to The Associated Press on Monday. The National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities is opposed, and already has begun lobbying Congress to quash the proposal. "Our biggest concern is that if a student takes a single course, they will be entered into a major national database. It would keep records on them by social security number," said NAICU spokeswoman Sarah Flanagan. "We don't believe that enrolling in college is the type of activity that should warrant this type of big brother intrusion." Before the Department of Education can proceed with the project, Congress must approve the development of the new system. [more]