Student Borrowers Win Another Victory in Sweet v. Cardona as Supreme Court Denies Intervenors’ SCOTUS Petition Attempting to Stop Settlement
Department of Education may continue implementing settlement relief, canceling $6+ billion in federal student loans for 290,000 class members
BOSTON – Today, the Supreme Court denied a petition filed by three intervening institutions—Lincoln Educational Services Corporation, American National University, and Everglades College, Inc.—asking SCOTUS to stay the $6 billion borrower defense settlement and seeking to bypass the standard appeals process.
Attempts to delay settlement by the three schools have now been denied three times, by Federal District Court Judge William Alsup, by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, and by the Supreme Court. Accordingly, the Department of Education may continue to discharge loans under the terms of the approved settlement. The institutions may continue to pursue their appeal in the Ninth Circuit.
Statement from Eileen Connor, President and Director of the Project on Predatory Student Lending:
“Today’s swift and decisive action from the highest court should end, once and for all, any ongoing debate about the legitimacy of this settlement. The message is clear: the rights of student borrowers will not falter, even in the face of well-funded, politically-motivated attacks masquerading as legal argument.”
Sweet v. Cardona (previously Sweet v. DeVos) was filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California in 2019 by seven named plaintiffs, on behalf of themselves and all federal student loan borrowers whose borrower defense claims for loan cancellation were being ignored by the Department of Education. The plaintiff class includes approximately 290,000 class members who make up the current borrower defense backlog.
For more details on the settlement, visit the FAQ on our website.
The borrowers are represented by the Project on Predatory Student Lending (PPSL) and Housing and Economic Rights Advocates (HERA). Gupta Wessler PLLC joined PPSL and HERA as counsel of record on the Supreme Court brief.
About the Project on Predatory Student Lending
Established in 2012, the Project on Predatory Student Lending represents over a million former students of predatory for-profit colleges. Its mission is to use litigation to eliminate predatory practices in higher education, and to relieve current and future borrowers from fraudulent student loan debt. PPSL has won landmark cases to protect borrower rights, recover money owed, and cancel more than $10 billion in fraudulent debt. Its ongoing cases hold predatory colleges accountable and force the U.S. Department of Education to act on behalf of students and stop protecting this insidious industry.
About HERA
Housing and Economic Rights Advocates (HERA) is a California statewide, not-for-profit legal service and advocacy organization dedicated to helping Californians — particularly those most vulnerable — build a safe, sound financial future, free of discrimination and economic abuses, in all aspects of household financial concerns. It provides free legal services, consumer workshops, training for professionals and community organizing support, creates innovative solutions and engages in policy work locally, statewide and nationally.
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