The Sweet v. DeVos settlement provides up to $6 billion in federal student loan relief to roughly 200,000 borrowers who filed Borrower Defense to Repayment applications accusing their schools of misconduct. If you filed your application on or before November 15, 2022, you are likely covered. Qualifying borrowers get their federal loans canceled, receive refunds of payments they already made to the government, and have the loan tradeline removed from their credit reports.1StudentAid.gov. The Sweet v. DeVos Settlement for Student Loan Relief
Who Qualifies
Eligibility turns on one date: when you submitted your borrower defense application. The settlement divides eligible borrowers into two groups.
Class Members are borrowers whose applications were pending as of June 22, 2022. This group also includes borrowers whose claims were denied between December 2019 and October 2020, because the Department of Education agreed to rescind those denials.1StudentAid.gov. The Sweet v. DeVos Settlement for Student Loan Relief Class Members get the full relief package, either automatically or after the Department reviews their claim.
Post-Class Applicants are borrowers who filed between June 23, 2022, and November 15, 2022. Their applications are reviewed under the 2016 Borrower Defense regulation, which uses a more borrower-friendly standard based on whether the school made substantial misrepresentations the borrower reasonably relied on.2Department of Education FSA Partners Knowledge Center. Borrower Defense School Notification Process Under the 2016 Regulation (34 CFR 685.222) If the Department failed to issue a decision by January 28, 2026, the borrower automatically receives full relief.
If you did not file a borrower defense application before November 16, 2022, you are not part of this settlement. You can still submit a new application through the Federal Student Aid website, but it will be handled under current regulations, not the settlement’s terms.
What You Get If You Qualify
“Full settlement relief” means three specific things:3Federal Student Aid. Settlement Agreement 3:19-cv-03674-WHA
- The entire balance of your federal student loans tied to your borrower defense claim is canceled, including any interest and fees that accumulated while your application sat.
- Any payments you already made to the federal government on those loans are refunded, even if you paid the loan off in full before relief arrived.
- The Department requests deletion of the credit tradeline linked to your discharged loans, removing the loan history from your credit report.
While you wait, your loans stay in forbearance or stopped-collection status. No payments are due, and interest does not accrue during that period.
Does Your School Trigger Automatic Relief?
The settlement includes a list of more than 150 schools, overwhelmingly for-profit colleges, in what the agreement calls Exhibit C. If you attended one of these schools and you are a Class Member, you receive full relief automatically, with no further review of your individual claim. The schools were placed on the list based on evidence of widespread misconduct such as misrepresentations to students or violations of law.4Federal Student Aid. Sweet v. Cardona Settlement Agreement Exhibit C
The list includes ITT Technical Institute, DeVry University, and several brands under the Corinthian Colleges umbrella, among many others. The full list lives on the Federal Student Aid website. If your school is on it, you should not need to send in any additional documentation.
If your school is not on the Exhibit C list, the settlement still guarantees a decision within a set timeframe. If the Department missed the applicable deadline without issuing a decision, you automatically receive full relief.
Parent PLUS and FFEL Loans
Parents who took out Parent PLUS loans can qualify, but only if the parent filed their own separate borrower defense application within the settlement’s timeframes. A student’s application does not cover the parent’s loans. The same cutoff dates apply: on or before June 22, 2022, for Class Member status, or between June 23 and November 15, 2022, for Post-Class Applicant status.
Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) program loans, including FFEL Parent PLUS loans, are covered, so qualifying FFEL loans tied to your claim will be discharged. Refunds are more limited. If your FFEL loans were commercially held, meaning a private bank owned them rather than the federal government, the Department cannot refund payments you made to that bank. It only has authority to refund payments made directly to the federal government.
Two exceptions exist. If you consolidated your commercially held FFEL loans into a Direct Consolidation Loan, payments made on the Direct Consolidation Loan are refundable. And if the government seized your tax refund through Treasury offset or garnished your wages on a defaulted commercial FFEL loan, those seized amounts will be refunded.
Where the Settlement Stands Now
A federal judge granted final approval on November 16, 2022, and the settlement took effect on January 28, 2023.1StudentAid.gov. The Sweet v. DeVos Settlement for Student Loan Relief The original deadline for completing automatic discharges for Exhibit C school borrowers was January 2024. That was later extended to August 31, 2024, under a court-approved revised schedule.
For Class Members whose claims required individual review, the settlement set tiered deadlines based on how long the application had been pending, with the oldest cases resolved first and the most recent deadlines extending into 2025. Post-Class Applicants faced the January 28, 2026, backstop.
As of early 2026, the Department of Education continues to file quarterly compliance reports with the court, scheduled through at least February 2026. Forbearance protections remain in place: Class Members with pending applications or approved discharges not yet processed are not obligated to repay during this period. If you are a class member and have not yet received your relief, check the Federal Student Aid website for the most current updates, since processing timelines have shifted more than once.
Taxes on Your Discharge
Between 2021 and the end of 2025, a provision in the American Rescue Plan Act made federal student loan forgiveness tax-free at the federal level. That provision was not extended. Discharges processed in 2026 or later may be treated as taxable income, and if your discharged balance is $600 or more, expect an IRS Form 1099-C reporting the canceled amount.
The forgiven amount could be added to your gross income for the year you receive it, potentially pushing you into a higher tax bracket. Borrowers who are insolvent at the time of discharge, meaning total debts exceed total assets, may be able to exclude some or all of the forgiven amount under general IRS insolvency rules. State tax treatment varies; some states follow the federal rules, others have their own. If you expect a large discharge in 2026 or later, talk to a tax professional before the end of the tax year so you can plan.
Avoiding Scams Tied to the Settlement
You never have to pay anyone to receive relief under this settlement, and the Department of Education will never ask for your StudentAid.gov password.5Federal Student Aid. How To Avoid Student Loan Forgiveness Scams Anyone charging a fee to “process” your forgiveness is running a scam. So is anyone pressuring you to act immediately, or asking for your FSA ID login.
Official emails from Federal Student Aid come only from noreply@studentaid.gov, noreply@debtrelief.studentaid.gov, or ed.gov@public.govdelivery.com. Official text messages come only from 227722 or 51592. If a message looks off, do not click any links in it. Log in directly at StudentAid.gov to verify what your account and servicer actually show.