Sweet v. McMahon Settlement Update: Notices Sent, April 15 Deadline, and the Ninth Circuit Appeal

Updated on April 6, 2026

The Department of Education sent Full Settlement Relief eligibility notices to nearly 170,000 Exhibit C post-class borrowers on March 30, 2026 — one day after the Ninth Circuit unanimously rejected the Department’s latest attempt to delay those discharges. If you attended a non-Exhibit C school, your court-ordered deadline is April 15, 2026. The Department has asked the court for more time on that group, too. PPSL is opposing the request, as it has at every prior stage.

The settlement remains a binding federal court order. An appeal does not pause it. No court has issued a stay.

Latest Updates

April 9, 2026 — The Department’s opening merits brief is due in the Ninth Circuit; PPSL will respond.

April 15, 2026 — Court-ordered deadline for the Department to decide all remaining non-Exhibit C post-class applications. If no decision arrives by this date, Full Settlement Relief triggers automatically.

March 30, 2026 — The Department sent Full Settlement Relief eligibility notices to Exhibit C post-class applicants. If you attended an Exhibit C school and did not receive a decision by January 28, 2026, that email is your confirmation. Relief must be delivered by March 30, 2027.

March 25, 2026 — The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously denied the Department’s emergency motion to stay the settlement deadlines pending appeal. Judge Wardlaw stated during oral argument: “The time for negotiating is over. You missed your deadline.” This was the Department’s third consecutive court loss in this case.

March 20, 2026 — The Ninth Circuit heard oral arguments on the Department’s motion to stay.

February 27, 2026 — The Department filed an emergency motion to stay in the Ninth Circuit, one day after losing its second extension request at the district court level.

Who Is Covered by the Sweet v. McMahon Settlement

The settlement covers three groups of borrowers. Which group you belong to determines your deadline and what to do next.

Sweet v. McMahon — formerly Sweet v. Cardona and before that Sweet v. DeVos — is a class-action lawsuit filed in 2019 that accused the Department of Education of sitting on hundreds of thousands of Borrower Defense applications for years without issuing decisions. The settlement, finalized in November 2022, established binding deadlines for the Department to either issue decisions or automatically discharge the loans.

Original class members submitted a Borrower Defense application on or before June 22, 2022, and attended one of the 151 Exhibit C schools. They received automatic Full Settlement Relief — discharge, refund, and credit correction — years ago. If you are in this group and still haven’t received complete relief, email sweet@ed.gov and copy info@ppsl.org.

Post-class Exhibit C applicants submitted a Borrower Defense application between June 23 and November 15, 2022, and attended a school on the Exhibit C list. The Department was required to issue decisions by January 28, 2026. It did not. Automatic Full Settlement Relief has been triggered for this group. Notices went out on March 30, 2026.

Post-class non-Exhibit C applicants submitted a Borrower Defense application in the same June 23–November 15, 2022 window, but did not attend an Exhibit C school. The court set a decision deadline of April 15, 2026. If the Department misses that deadline, automatic Full Settlement Relief triggers for this group as well.

If you submitted a Borrower Defense application after November 15, 2022, you are not part of either post-class group. Your application is processed under the current Borrower Defense regulations.

The Exhibit C School List

Exhibit C is a list of 151 schools that the Department of Education identified as having strong indicators of substantial misconduct — credible allegations of fraud or, in some cases, confirmed findings. Attending one of these schools determined whether a post-class applicant faced the January 28, 2026, deadline or the April 15, 2026, deadline.

Check the Exhibit C school list PDF on StudentAid.gov directly. The list is four pages long and covers mostly for-profit institutions — Corinthian Colleges, ITT Technical Institute, colleges in the Education Management Corporation (EDMC) family (Art Institutes, South University, Argosy University), DeVry University, and others that drew significant attention from state attorneys general.

If your school appears on the list, you are an Exhibit C applicant. If it does not, you are a non-Exhibit C applicant covered by the April 15 deadline.

What Full Settlement Relief Includes

Full Settlement Relief is automatic when the Department misses its court-ordered decision deadline. It includes four components:

Loan discharge — federal student loans tied to the school named in your Borrower Defense application are discharged in full
Payment refund — payments you made to the federal government on those loans are refunded, including payments on Direct Loans and federally held FFEL loans
Credit correction — negative credit reporting associated with those loans is deleted
Federal aid restoration — eligibility for federal student aid is restored if it was lost

Payments made on commercially held FFEL loans that were never federally owned may not be refundable. If those loans were later consolidated into Direct Loans, the discharge applies to the consolidated balance.

Refunds are issued by the U.S. Department of the Treasury and may arrive in multiple payments. The Department has one year from the date of your eligibility notice to complete discharge, refunds, and credit corrections.

What to Do Now — Steps by Your Situation

Your next step depends on which group you are in.

If you are an original class member who has not yet received complete relief

You submitted a Borrower Defense application on or before June 22, 2022, attended an Exhibit C school, and should have already received automatic Full Settlement Relief. If your discharge, refund, or credit correction is still incomplete, email sweet@ed.gov and copy info@ppsl.org with your name and application number. The FSA Ombudsman is the designated contact for unresolved class member relief.

If you are an Exhibit C post-class applicant who did not receive a decision by January 28, 2026

The Department sent eligibility notices from noreply@studentaid.gov on March 30, 2026. Check every inbox you have access to — including spam, junk, and deleted folders — for a message from that address.

If you received the email, no further action is required. Confirm your contact information is current at StudentAid.gov and monitor your loan account for balance adjustments. Your relief must arrive by March 30, 2027.

If you did not receive the email after checking all folders, fill out PPSL’s survey at ppsl.org. PPSL will investigate. Also email sweet@ed.gov with your name and application number.

Scam warning: Relief under this settlement is automatic. No company or individual can speed up your discharge, get you special access, or guarantee a faster outcome — not for free, and certainly not for money. Anyone who asks you to pay for help with your Sweet v. McMahon claim is running a scam. Report it to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.

If you are a non-Exhibit C post-class applicant

Your deadline is April 15, 2026. The Department has filed another motion seeking additional time to process this group’s applications. PPSL is opposing that motion, as it has at every prior stage.

No action is needed to trigger relief. If the Department does not issue a decision by April 15, automatic Full Settlement Relief applies. Watch your email and FSA portal after April 15. If that date passes without a decision or a notice, email sweet@ed.gov and copy info@ppsl.org.

If you received a denial

A denial does not end the process. Check your Federal Student Aid portal at StudentAid.gov for a Request Reconsideration option. If no button appears, email sweet@ed.gov to request reconsideration manually. Compare the denial to your original application and identify any factual errors. Forward the denial to info@ppsl.org with the subject line: “Sweet post-class denial.”

If you received an approval

The Department must complete discharge, refunds, and credit corrections within one year of your approval notice. If that one-year window passes without complete relief, email sweet@ed.gov and copy info@ppsl.org.

If you applied after November 15, 2022

You are not part of the post-class group. Automatic relief does not apply to you. Your Borrower Defense application is processed under current regulations.

The Department's Appeal — What It Means for Your Relief

The Department’s appeal does not pause your relief — the Ninth Circuit confirmed this on March 25.

The Department filed a notice of appeal on February 24, 2026, and an emergency motion to stay the settlement deadlines on February 27. The Ninth Circuit heard oral arguments on March 20 and denied the stay on March 25. That ruling was unanimous.

To obtain a stay, the Department had to show it was likely to succeed on the merits of its appeal and that the other Nken v. Holder factors favored a pause. The Ninth Circuit found it failed on both counts — the Department did not demonstrate that the two district court judges who denied extension requests had clearly abused their discretion, and the equities favored borrowers, not further delay. The published opinion put it plainly: the Department could point to no changed circumstances that render it inequitable to apply the same settlement agreement it had bargained for years ago.

The merits appeal continues. The Department’s opening brief was due April 9, with PPSL’s response to follow. But the appeal, by itself, does not suspend the settlement. The deadlines remain binding court orders. For a pause to occur, either the Ninth Circuit or the U.S. Supreme Court would have to issue a stay, and the Ninth Circuit has already said no.

Could the Department claw back discharges if it ultimately prevails on appeal? Legal experts note that the automatic discharges flow from the Department’s settlement and compromise authority — not from a regulatory rule subject to rescission — making them unlikely to be clawed back even if the Department wins the appeal. That question has not been formally adjudicated, but it remains the prevailing view among practitioners tracking the case.

Timeline of Key Events

June 22, 2022 — Settlement reached in Sweet v. Cardona (later recaptioned Sweet v. McMahon)
June 23–November 15, 2022 — Post-class Borrower Defense application window
November 16, 2022 — Court grants final settlement approval
November 5, 2024 — Ninth Circuit dismisses appeals filed by three original intervenors
December 11, 2025 — Court denies Department’s first extension request; sets April 15, 2026 deadline for non-Exhibit C applicants
January 22, 2026 — Department files second Rule 60(b) motion seeking extension
January 28, 2026 — Exhibit C post-class deadline missed; automatic relief triggered
February 23, 2026 — U.S. Supreme Court declines review of separate challenge
February 24, 2026 — Court denies second extension request; Department files notice of appeal
February 27, 2026 — Department files emergency stay motion in the Ninth Circuit
March 20, 2026 — Ninth Circuit hears oral arguments on the stay motion
March 25, 2026 — Ninth Circuit unanimously denies stay motion
March 30, 2026 — Department sends Full Settlement Relief eligibility notices to Exhibit C post-class applicants; relief due by March 30, 2027
April 9, 2026 — Department’s opening merits brief due in the Ninth Circuit
April 15, 2026 — Non-Exhibit C post-class decision deadline
Within one year of written notice — Discharge, refunds, and credit corrections must be completed

Resources and Contact Information

Sweet settlement contact (Department of Education): sweet@ed.gov
Project on Predatory Student Lending (PPSL): info@ppsl.org
Borrower Defense Hotline: 1-855-279-6207
Federal Student Aid portal: StudentAid.gov
Court case: Sweet v. McMahon, No. 19-cv-3674 (N.D. Cal.)
Exhibit C school list: See the Exhibit C School List section above for the direct PDF link
Full settlement agreement and case documents: PPSL case page

FAQs

What is an Exhibit C school?

Exhibit C is a list of 151 schools included in the Sweet v. McMahon settlement agreement. The Department of Education identified these schools as having strong indicators of substantial misconduct — credible allegations of fraud or confirmed findings. Borrowers who attended Exhibit C schools and filed post-class Borrower Defense applications faced the January 28, 2026, deadline. Those who attended other schools face the April 15, 2026, deadline. See the Exhibit C School List section above for the direct link to the full PDF on StudentAid.gov.

I'm an Exhibit C post-class borrower. What should I have received by now?

An email from noreply@studentaid.gov was sent on March 30, 2026, confirming your eligibility for Full Settlement Relief. Check all folders — inbox, spam, junk, and deleted. If you cannot find it, fill out the survey at ppsl.org so PPSL can investigate.

Did the Ninth Circuit stop the settlement?

No. On March 25, 2026, the Ninth Circuit unanimously denied the Department’s emergency motion to stay the settlement deadlines. The settlement remains a binding court order. The Department’s merits appeal continues, but an appeal alone does not pause the deadlines — only a court-issued stay would, and no stay currently exists.

Has anyone received their Sweet v. McMahon refund?

Original class members received discharges years ago under the earlier phases of the settlement. For post-class Exhibit C borrowers, the process began March 30, 2026, when eligibility notices went out. The Department has one year from that notice date — until March 30, 2027 — to complete discharge, refunds, and credit corrections. Refund disbursements for this group are pending. They come from the U.S. Department of the Treasury and may arrive in multiple payments.

What happens if the Department missed the January 28, 2026 deadline?

Exhibit C post-class borrowers who did not receive a decision by that date receive Full Settlement Relief automatically. The Department was required to send notice within 60 days and complete discharge and refunds within one year of that notice. Notices went out on March 30, 2026. Relief is due by March 30, 2027.

Am I a post-class applicant?

You are a post-class applicant if you submitted a Borrower Defense application between June 23 and November 15, 2022. If your application was pending as of June 22, 2022, you were part of the original class. If you applied after November 15, 2022, you are not covered by the settlement.

Will I receive a refund of payments I already made?

Full Settlement Relief includes refunds of payments made to the federal government on covered Direct Loans and federally held FFEL loans. Payments made on commercially held FFEL loans that were never federally owned may not be refundable unless those loans were later consolidated into Direct Loans.

Does this settlement cover private student loans?

No. The Sweet v. McMahon settlement applies only to federal student loans — Direct Loans and federally held FFEL loans. Private student loans are not covered regardless of which school you attended or when you applied. If you have private student loans from a school that defrauded you, those require a separate legal strategy.

Can the Department's appeal stop the settlement?

Not by itself. An appeal does not automatically suspend a district court’s orders. For the settlement deadlines to be paused, a court would have to issue a formal stay. The Ninth Circuit denied that request on March 25, 2026. Unless the Ninth Circuit or the U.S. Supreme Court issues a stay on the merits — which has not happened — the deadlines remain binding.