Trump Education Department cracks down on college student voting programs

The U.S. Department of Education (DOE) launched an investigation and issued new guidance that could severely undercut efforts to expand voting among college students ahead of the 2026 elections.

In a press release published Thursday, the DOE announced that its Student Privacy Policy Office opened a formal investigation into Tufts University and the National Student Clearinghouse over their involvement in the National Study of Learning, Voting, and Engagement (NSLVE), a widely used program that helps colleges measure and improve student civic participation.

At the same time, the department rescinded guidance that encouraged colleges to participate in the program, warning that schools using its data could risk violating federal privacy law.

“American colleges and universities should be focused on teaching, learning, and research — not influencing elections,” Education Secretary Linda McMahon said. “The Biden Administration, with little to no regard for student privacy laws, openly encouraged institutions to share and utilize student data in order to target certain populations.”

The NSLVE, housed at Tufts University, works by analyzing anonymized student enrollment data alongside public voting records to help colleges understand which students are registering and voting and which are being left out. For more than a decade, it has served as a pillar of campus voter engagement efforts nationwide, particularly initiatives aimed at first-time voters and students from historically disenfranchised groups.

The department’s press release alleges that the program “has led to violations of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act,” known as FERPA, a federal law that protects the privacy of student education records. DOE said it has “reason to believe there could be significant FERPA compliance issues regarding what data is being collected, how the data is shared, who it is shared with, and whether proper consent was obtained from students.”

And the release goes further, asserting that reports submitted to the department allege that “students’ personally identifying data is shared not only with the NSC and participating institutions, but also with political organizations which aim to influence elections.”

Alongside the investigation, the department issued new guidance to colleges and universities nationwide that ends prior policies encouraging participation in the voting study. The guidance warns that “any institution that utilizes NSLVE data — set to be released this year — could be at risk of being found in violation of FERPA.”

FERPA violations can carry severe consequences. 

As the department notes in its own release, violations “can result in termination of an educational entity’s Federal funding from the Department.”

The immediate chilling effect could push colleges to abandon or sharply scale back voter registration and turnout programs rather than risk federal funding. Because student voter engagement efforts are not legally required, they are often the first activities cut when institutions face regulatory uncertainty.

The department’s framing also marks a sharp rhetorical shift. 

By repeatedly characterizing data-driven voter engagement as “influencing elections,” the administration collapses nonpartisan civic participation work into partisan political activity — a move designed to delegitimize efforts to expand access to the ballot among young voters.

DOE said its investigation will examine “how the student data is being shared between colleges and universities, Tufts, the NSC, and any other third parties,” and whether institutions are meeting FERPA’s consent requirements. The department emphasized that FERPA applies to “any educational entity that receives Department of Education funds,” signaling that the impact of the action could extend far beyond the named institutions.

The move fits squarely within a broader pattern under the Trump administration of using administrative enforcement, rather than direct changes to election law, to weaken voter participation. 

College students, who tend to vote more Democratic, represent one of the fastest-growing voting blocs, and expanded campus registration efforts have been shown to significantly boost youth turnout.

While the department insists its actions are about protecting student privacy, the practical effect may be to dismantle one of the most effective national tools for understanding and expanding student voter participation.