National Student Clearinghouse Research Center is the research and educational arm of the National Student Clearinghouse, an organization that maintains and sells data on high school and college students in the United States. The research center provides data on student enrollment to left-of-center voter advocacy and registration organizations and operates a diversity, equity, and inclusion data center. The research center’s parent organization, the National Student Clearinghouse, claims to have collected data on more than 97 percent of those enrolled in postsecondary education institutions in the United States and has operating agreements with more than 3,600 schools. ^{1 2}

National Student Clearinghouse has received grants in exchange for data from left-leaning grantmaking institutions including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Ascendium Education Solutions, and the Lumina Foundation. ^{3 4}

Background

National Student Clearinghouse Research Center publishes data collected by the National Student Clearinghouse on trends in U.S. college and high school enrollment and completion. ¹ The center was established in 1993 as a national resource for postsecondary enrollment data and completed its initial pilot program at 34 colleges and universities in 1994. Within its first decade of existence, the organization launched several trademarked services for third-party degree verification, enrollment verification, student loan locating and verification, and high school student tracking. The organization has stated that it has collected data on 97 percent of postsecondary students at 3,600 participating colleges and universities while also maintaining data on 70 percent of high school students at 22,000 participating high schools. ^{1 5}

Data provided by the National Student Clearinghouse is used by left-of-center voter outreach organizations such as the Institute for Democracy and Higher Education at Tufts University to monitor student voting rates and inform get-out-the-vote campaigns at colleges and universities. ^{6 7 8}

National Student Clearinghouse Research Center publishes a variety of reports on student enrollment and college completion. The organization also operates a DEI Data Lab that publishes reports regarding diversity, equity, and inclusion and student success. ^{9 2 9}

Funding

National Student Clearinghouse Research Center is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and receives around $5 million in annual funding. In addition to funding from the National Student Clearinghouse, the research center has been heavily funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which in 2018 gave the center a 27-month, $7.7 million grant “to enhance NSC’s collection and reporting services to offer a comprehensive data collective for postsecondary education initiatives and institutions to enable their transparency and improvement efforts.” ⁴

The organization also received a $500,000 grant from the Lumina Foundation in 2017 for enhancing “NSC’s collection and reporting services to offer a comprehensive data collective for post-secondary education initiatives and institutions in order to enable their transparency and improvement efforts.” ¹⁰

1. “About.” National Student Clearinghouse. Accessed February 10, 2023. https://www.studentclearinghouse.org/about/
2. “About Us.” National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. Accessed February 10, 2023. https://nscresearchcenter.org/aboutus/
3. “National Student Clearinghouse Research Center.” Cause IQ. Accessed February 10, 2023. https://www.causeiq.com/organizations/natl-student-clearinghouse-research-center,271255674/
4. “National Student Clearinghouse Research Center.” Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Accessed February 10, 2023. https://www.gatesfoundation.org/about/committed-grants/2018/08/opp1192181
5. “Clearinghouse Timeline.” National Student Clearinghouse. Accessed February 10, 2023. https://www.studentclearinghouse.org/wp-content/uploads/Clearinghouse-Timeline.pdf
6. “Student Voting Rates for University of Wisconsin-Madison – 2020 NSLVE Campus Report.” Institute for Democracy and Higher Education. October 2021. Accessed February 10, 2023. https://morgridge.wisc.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2021/11/NSLVE-Report-2020-UW-Madison.pdf
7. Shearer, Nicole. “University student voter turnout experiences a monumental increase.” Nevada Today. September 24, 2019. Accessed February 10, 2023. https://www.unr.edu/nevada-today/news/2019/increased-student-voter-turnout
8. “Reauthorizing NSLVE Webinar.” Institute for Democracy and Higher Education. October 2021. Accessed February 10, 2023. https://tufts.app.box.com/s/9ri9sojy5wdmkuwyukv03wgoltfasw71
9. “DEI Data Lab.” National Student Clearinghouse. Accessed February 10, 2023. https://www.studentclearinghouse.org/dei-data-lab/
10. “National Student Clearinghouse Research Center.” Lumina Foundation. Accessed February 10, 2023. https://www.luminafoundation.org/grant/10091/