Relates to the regulation of social media companies and social media platforms

2025 Regular Session Introduced by Jake Ashby and 14 co-sponsors

Requires MA public colleges/universities to provide each major's cost, avg debt, early employment outcomes, and avg salary to students applying for or changing majors.

REFERRED TO INTERNET AND TECHNOLOGY

Purpose

S. 927 requires public institutions of higher education in Massachusetts to collect and provide standardized, career- and cost-related information to students when they apply for or change their major. The intent is to improve transparency about program costs, student debt, employment outcomes and early-career earnings to support informed academic and career decisions.

Key provisions

Amends Chapter 15A of the General Laws by inserting a new Section 44½ after Section 44.

Requires each public institution (as defined in Section 5 of Chapter 15A) to collect and provide the following information to students when they apply for or change a major:

The estimated total cost to complete the selected major (i.e., cost of required courses).
The average debt incurred upon graduation by students who completed that major in the past three years.
The professions/reported occupations that recent graduates with that major have obtained within one year of graduation, including the number of graduates who neither obtained employment nor continued into further education within that timeframe.
The average salary of recent graduates with that major within three years after graduation.

Who is affected

Primary: Public institutions of higher education in Massachusetts (colleges and universities covered by Chapter 15A).

Secondary: Current and prospective students who are applying for or changing majors; institutional offices responsible for institutional research, career services, financial aid and student records.

Indirect: Academic departments (may see changes in enrollment), state higher-education policymakers and workforce planners.

Timeline & procedural status (as recorded)

Filed: Senate docketed 1/9/2025; bill introduced in the Senate 3/11/2025.

Legislative actions recorded include referral to committees (Higher Education; Internet and Technology; Committee on Finance) and scheduling of a hearing (10/16/2025). A study order (S2698) is noted as accompanying the bill on 11/06/2025.

The text does not specify an effective date or an implementation timeline for institutions to comply.

Potential impacts and considerations

Transparency: Students gain clearer, program-specific information on costs, debt outcomes, employment and earnings to inform major selection.

Administrative burden: Institutions will need to collect, analyze and publish disaggregated outcome and cost data, potentially requiring new data systems or staff resources.

Data quality and comparability: Accurate reporting will depend on consistent definitions (e.g., how professions are categorized, treatment of part-time or short-term employment), data-sharing between campus units, and methods for calculating “average” debt and salaries.

Behavioral effects: Availability of outcome data may influence student choice of majors and could affect program enrollments and institutional planning.

Privacy and confidentiality: Reporting must balance transparency with student privacy protections (not specified in the bill).

This summary reflects the bill text inserting Section 44½ into Chapter 15A and the legislative actions recorded in available documents.

Bill