PODCAST:
Aug. 10, 2026 ~ More than 170,000 borrowers are set to receive student loan relief after a lengthy legal battle. Eileen Connor explains the settlement, who qualifies, and what it means for borrowers moving forward.
WASHINGTON, D.C. ~ After years of delays in the processing of Borrower Defense claims, more than 170,000 student loan borrowers are set to receive approximately $11 billion in relief.
The case, originally titled Sweet v. DeVos, was filed in 2019 on behalf of borrowers who alleged they were misled or defrauded by their schools and sought relief through the federal Borrower Defense program. Although a settlement was reached under the Biden administration in 2022, relief for many borrowers was delayed because of processing backlogs and continued litigation.
The latest attempt by the Department of Education to further delay the relief was denied by a federal appeals court, opening the door for the $11 billion to be forgiven for the borrowers.
“We brought this lawsuit when there was a backlog of over 100,000 applications,” Connor said about the delays in processing Borrower Defense applications. “And throughout the course of litigating, we sort of found that the department really didn’t have a plan to process these applications or to review them fairly. And so ultimately, after a lot of litigation, we were able to reach a settlement in 2022.”
This is less than half of at least $23 billion in federal student loan relief that will reach about 500,000 people. The Education Department’s final deadline to clear borrowers’ loan debts is June 15, 2027, according to USA TODAY.
