About Us

The National Student Clearinghouse® Research Center™ is the research arm of the National Student Clearinghouse. The Research Center works with higher education institutions, states, districts, high schools, and educational organizations to better inform practitioners and policymakers about student educational pathways. Through accurate longitudinal data outcomes reporting, the Research Center enables better educational policy decisions leading to improved student outcomes.

Our Approach

Since 1993, the National Student Clearinghouse has been a nonprofit education partner to the nation’s colleges and universities, providing them with critical educational reporting, verification, and research services. Our approach to data collection and processing makes the Clearinghouse uniquely able to serve as a valuable source for longitudinal and other studies on educational progress.

The Clearinghouse approach is:

  • Flexible: The Clearinghouse captures data from all types and sizes of institutions (e.g., public, private, 2-/ 4-year, nonprofit/for-profit) and is well positioned to capture information from the education and workforce data providers of the future.
  • Optimized: The Clearinghouse meets state and federal accountability and assessment needs. The reports available through our educational research service, StudentTracker®, can also be provided on a district- or individual school-level enabling them to make meaningful changes based upon their unique needs and characteristics.
  • Efficient: While the Clearinghouse’s StudentTracker service yields information that can be used for a variety of institutional research purposes, participation in the Clearinghouse also delivers programs and services to institutions that allow them to control administrative costs and improve the services they provide to their students and alumni.
  • Trusted & Neutral: The Clearinghouse has served the higher education community as a nonadvocacy third-party agent for 20 years. As their longstanding partner, our participating institutions trust the Clearinghouse to maintain the integrity of their student records on our system and respect their role as data owner.
  • Sustainable: The Clearinghouse is a nonprofit that does not receive state or federal appropriations. Our data process is supported through the fees we collect from third-parties for services provided on behalf of our participating institutions.
  • FERPA Compliant: Clearinghouse services are designed to facilitate compliance with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, The Higher Education Act, and other applicable laws.