The Sweet v. Cardona settlement school list — formally “Exhibit C” to the settlement agreement — names roughly 150 schools whose former students receive automatic federal student loan cancellation, refunds of past payments, and deletion of the related credit reporting, provided they had a borrower defense application pending with the Department of Education on the qualifying date. Most of the schools are for-profit institutions, and several of the largest for-profit chains appear multiple times under different subsidiary names.1Sweet v. Cardona settlement, Exhibit C
What Exhibit C Relief Includes
If your school is on the list and you qualify, the settlement calls the outcome “Full Settlement Relief.” That means three concrete things: discharge of the covered federal student loans, a refund of every dollar you previously paid the Department on those loans, and removal of the associated tradeline from your credit report. No hearing. No evidence submission. No individual review of your borrower defense claim.
The Department agreed to this presumptive treatment because it concluded the Exhibit C schools showed “strong signs of substantial misconduct, whether credibly alleged or in some instances proven,” and had generated high volumes of borrower defense applications. Former for-profit students accounted for roughly 98% of all borrower defense applications filed between 2016 and 2018.
Who Qualifies by Attending a Listed School
Being on the list is not enough on its own. You also have to have filed a borrower defense to repayment application by a specific date.
Class members are borrowers who had a borrower defense application pending as of June 22, 2022. If you’re in that group and you attended an Exhibit C school, your relief is automatic under the settlement.
A separate cohort, called post-class applicants, filed borrower defense applications between June 23 and November 15, 2022. The Department was required to decide those applications by January 28, 2026, for Exhibit C school applicants and by April 15, 2026, for the remainder. When those deadlines passed without decisions, those borrowers also became entitled to Full Settlement Relief. By mid-June 2026, the Department was sending eligibility notices to the final cohort of roughly 30,000 borrowers, with actual discharges and refunds due within one year of the notice.
People who never filed a borrower defense application are not part of the class and do not receive automatic relief through this settlement, even if they attended a listed school.
The Schools on Exhibit C
The list runs to about 150 institutions once subsidiaries are counted. Grouped by corporate parent, the most prominent entries include:
- Apollo Group — University of Phoenix, Western International University
- Career Education Corporation — Le Cordon Bleu schools, Sanford-Brown College, Sanford-Brown Institute, Brooks College, Brooks Institute, and numerous other culinary and career brands
- DeVry / Adtalem — DeVry University, Keller Graduate School of Management, Chamberlain University, Carrington College, Ross University School of Medicine, Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine
- EDMC / Dream Center — Argosy University, The Art Institute, Brown Mackie College, South University, Western State University College of Law
- ITT Educational Services — ITT Technical Institute
- Graham Holdings (Kaplan) — Kaplan College, Kaplan Career Institute, Purdue University Global
- Bridgepoint Education — Ashford University, University of the Rockies
- Strategic Education / Capella Education — Capella University, American InterContinental University, Colorado Technical University, and several others
- Grand Canyon Education — Grand Canyon University
- Laureate Education — Walden University, Florida Technical College
- Infilaw — Arizona Summit Law School, Charlotte School of Law, Florida Coastal School of Law
- Center for Excellence in Higher Education — CollegeAmerica, Independence University, Stevens-Henager
Smaller chains and standalone schools also appear on the list, including Marinello School of Beauty, Vatterott College, Fortis College, Fortis Institute, Empire Beauty School, Keiser University, Everglades University, FastTrain, Globe University, Minnesota School of Business, Virginia College, and Brightwood College, among others.1Sweet v. Cardona settlement, Exhibit C
Corrections and Disputes
Shortly after the settlement was filed, the Department corrected Exhibit C by removing four schools it said had been included through clerical errors: ATI College, Missouri College of Cosmetology North, Hallmark University, and International Technical Institute. Missouri College was added. Lincoln Educational Services separately disputed being identified as the corporate parent of International Technical Institute, saying it never owned or had any affiliation with that school.
American National University, Everglades College, and Lincoln Educational Services also challenged their inclusion on the list. Judge William Alsup rejected their objections and approved the settlement. On November 5, 2024, the Ninth Circuit held the schools lacked prudential standing to challenge a settlement that bound only the Department and the borrower class and imposed no obligations on the schools. The Supreme Court declined to halt the settlement on April 13, 2023, and the Ninth Circuit denied Everglades College’s petition for rehearing en banc in May 2025. The schools remain on the list.
Why These Schools Ended Up on the List
According to the complaint, the listed institutions recruited students with misrepresentations about job placement rates, program quality, credit transferability, and career outcomes. Many targeted low-income students, veterans, and first-generation college attendees. Some spent far more on marketing and recruitment than on instruction, and in certain cases schools were found to have falsified student records and financial aid documents to maximize federal funding.
The Department’s own review of borrower defense filings led it to conclude these schools warranted presumptive relief rather than case-by-case adjudication.
If You Attended a Listed School
Relief under the settlement is automatic. You do not opt in. The Department is responsible for processing the discharge, issuing the refund, and correcting your credit report. While your discharge is being processed, you are not required to make payments, and the Department is barred from garnishing wages or seizing tax refunds on the covered loans.
If you believe you qualify and haven’t received a notice or seen relief posted, the settlement directs class members to contact the Federal Student Aid Ombudsman at sweet@ed.gov, copying info@ppsl.org. The Project on Predatory Student Lending, class counsel in the case, maintains an FAQ for class members at ppsl.org.
By December 2025, the Department reported it had provided complete relief to between 97.9% and 99.7% of class members in the earlier decision groups whose deadlines had passed, covering nearly 300,000 borrowers and approximately $12 billion in discharges and refunds. Notices to the remaining post-class applicants continue to go out. The Department’s notices to post-class borrowers state that timing remains subject to the outcome of ongoing Ninth Circuit litigation.
If Your School Is Not on Exhibit C
Attending a school that isn’t on the list doesn’t disqualify you from borrower defense generally. The settlement’s automatic-relief mechanism, though, applies only to Exhibit C schools. Borrowers who attended other schools and had applications pending were sorted into decision groups for individual review under the 2016 Borrower Defense regulation, using a streamlined process that does not require evidence beyond the application, does not demand proof of reliance, and applies no statute of limitations. If the Department missed its decision deadline for any borrower in those groups, that borrower also became entitled to Full Settlement Relief.