The College Transparency Act directs the National Center for Education Statistics to build a secure, privacy-protected national data system tracking postsecondary students from enrollment through graduation and into the workforce. Within five years of enactment, the system must capture student-level data on enrollment, retention, completion, financial aid, and post-graduation earnings and employment, drawing on matches with agencies like the IRS, Social Security Administration, Department of Veterans Affairs, and Bureau of Labor Statistics. The bill affects colleges and universities receiving federal Title IV student aid, which must report data, as well as students, families, researchers, and policymakers who will gain access to detailed public reports comparing schools on outcomes like graduation rates, costs, debt, and earnings by program. Strong privacy protections are built in, including bans on collecting health records, grades, immigration status, or religion, prohibitions on selling data or using it for law enforcement, and a ban on using the system to create federal college rankings. The law also establishes an advisory committee to guide implementation, repeals an existing legal ban on such a student-level data system, and requires the Department of Education to report quarterly to Congress on its progress standing up the new system.