About NSLVE

The National Study of Learning, Voting, and Engagement (NSLVE) is a study of student political engagement in higher education institutions and a service to over 1,000 U.S. colleges and universities that can use it to understand and improve their student voting rates. Educators, students, and community partners use NSLVE data to improve civic learning in and out of the classroom, to develop or enhance co-curricular programming, to benchmark student voter participation, to inform accreditation reports, and more.

Colleges and universities have a civic mission: they are legally required to provide opportunities for electoral participation by facilitating voter registration. NSLVE supports higher education institutions in fulfilling that mission. Our study measures student civic participation allowing institutions to identify obstacles or benchmark progress and it provides evidence-driven resources and recommendations for action to support civic learning on campuses.

How NSLVE supports education and research.

Joining NSLVE

NSLVE is the first and only study to objectively examine student and institution-level data on student voting and to share these data with participating campuses so it can inform civic learning in higher education. Participation is free, easy, and protective of student privacy.

Learn more about joining NSLVE

NSLVE and Student Privacy

When a college or university signs up for the NSLVE study, they authorize us to receive their institution’s enrollment data, which is deidentified and matched to publicly available voter files. The process and the data are absolutely nonpartisan and protective of student privacy: NSLVE never receives identifiable student data or learns who students vote for.

The study is fully compliant with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), which allows colleges and universities to share student lists and certain identifying information often used for research purposes.

Read our detailed FAQ on NSLVE, FERPA, and student privacy

Note: The NSLVE study was previously conducted by the Institute for Democracy and Higher Education (IDHE), which has now moved to the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U). The NSLVE study remains here at Tufts University's Tisch College of Civic Life and is now overseen by the Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement.