Sen. Bill Cassidy, chair of the Senate HELP Committee, sent letters to 35 selective institutions — including Ivy League schools, Georgia Tech and Rice — seeking data and explanations after a University of California, San Diego report found many first-year students were placed into math below middle-school level. Cassidy called the gap a K–12 achievement crisis spilling into higher education and set a Feb. 5 deadline for responses. The committee requested placement data, descriptions of placement mechanisms, details on remedial-content courses, graduation math requirements and whether institutions require SAT/ACT math scores. UC San Diego attributed declines to pandemic learning loss, elimination of standardized tests, grade inflation and expanded access from under-resourced high schools. Colleges face potential scrutiny over admission standards, placement practices and remediation capacity. Provosts and registrars should prepare to document placement methodologies and the intersection of admissions policies with student success outcomes.