学生贷款借款人依法有权获得债务减免——但一份新的法庭文件称，他们仍在等待减免到来。掠夺性学生贷款项目组织——一个借款人维权团体——在其旨在为数千名受骗借款人争取减免的长达数年的诉讼中提交了一份新动议。7月，一家联邦法院驳回了特朗普政府要求推迟根据《Sweet诉McMahon案》和解协议提供减免的请求，该和解已为超过50万名借款人提供了230亿美元的减免。
Student-loan borrowers are legally entitled to debt relief — but they're still waiting for it to arrive, a new court filing says. The Project on Predatory Student Lending — a borrower advocacy group — filed a new motion in its years-long lawsuit to get relief for thousands of defrauded borrowers. In July, a federal court denied the Trump administration's request to delay relief under the Sweet v. McMahon settlement, which has provided $23 billion in relief to over 500,000 borrowers.
如今，掠夺性学生贷款项目组织称，该和解集团中仍有超过1000名成员在等待教育部“依法必须在早已过去的截止日期前提供”的贷款注销或退款。该组织提交动议，请求法院强制执行和解协议并裁定教育部藐视法庭，以迫使其遵守和解条款并在设定的截止日期内处理减免事宜。具体而言，该动议要求教育部恢复与原告律师的每周会议，以获取减免处理进度的最新情况，并请求法院在教育部不遵守规定时强制执行罚则。
Now, PPSL says that over 1,000 members of the settlement class are still waiting for loan discharges or refunds that the Education Department "was legally required to provide by deadlines that have long since passed." The group filed a motion asking the court to enforce the settlement and hold the department in contempt, in order to compel compliance with the settlement terms and process relief within the set deadlines. Specifically, the motion asks the department to resume weekly meetings with the plaintiffs' counsel for status updates on the processing of the relief, and asks the court to enforce penalties if the department does not comply.
教育部在其回应中称这些动议“毫无根据”。此外，该部门申诉专员的一份声明称，仍在等待退款的借款人并非因部门失职，而是因为这些借款人的账户“需要进一步审查”。“尽管员工花了一些时间来了解所有复杂情况，但目前的员工自2024年4月左右起一直在审查和解决Sweet投诉，2025年又增加了一些员工，”申诉专员表示。“他们都非常精通Sweet投诉的解决。”该案件的公开听证会定于11月5日举行。
The Education Department said in its response that the motions are "baseless." Additionally, a declaration from the department's ombudsman said that borrowers still awaiting refunds are not due to department failure, but rather, that those borrowers' accounts "warranted further review." "Although it has taken staff some time to understand all of the complexities, the current staff have been reviewing and resolving Sweet complaints since approximately April 2024 with some staff added in 2025," the ombudsman said. "They are all incredibly well-versed in Sweet complaint resolution." A public hearing in the case is scheduled for November 5.
学生贷款借款人于2019年首次向该部门提起诉讼，指控其未能处理他们的“借款人抗辩还款”申请——如果借款人认为自己遭受欺诈，可以提出此类申请。如果获批，他们在该学校产生的学生债务将被免除。此案在拜登政府时期于2022年达成和解，虽然已有批次借款人获得减免，但PPSL表示，其他符合条件的借款人仍在等待。有学生贷款相关故事想分享？请联系本记者：asheffey@businessinsider.com。
Student-loan borrowers first filed a lawsuit against the department in 2019, accusing it of failing to process their borrower defense to repayment applications — claims borrowers can file if they believe they were defrauded. If approved, their student debt from the school would be wiped out. A settlement in the case was reached under the Biden administration in 2022, and while batches of borrowers have received relief, PPSL said that others who qualify are still waiting. Have a story to share about student loans? Contact this reporter at asheffey@businessinsider.com.