Senator Durbin, Illinois AG Raoul Blast Department of Education for Delaying Promised Relief to Students Scammed by Westwood College

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December 19, 2025

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Senator Durbin, Illinois AG Raoul Blast Department of Education for Delaying Promised Relief to Students Scammed by Westwood College

Washington, D.C. – The U.S. Department of Education (ED) recently disclosed that more than 14,000 former Westwood College students are still awaiting student loan discharges, which were promised in August 2022. ED does not have a definitive answer as to when these students will receive the discharges. 

The new information was released by the Department in a status report filed in ongoing litigation brought by Student Defense, the National Consumer Law Center, and the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law regarding the status of discharges for former Westwood students. 

The discharges stem from substantial evidence of misconduct by Westwood College dating back to 2002. Multiple investigations – including by the Department – found that Westwood College defrauded tens of thousands of students with its deceptive and misleading enrollment tactics. Because of this evidence, and after this litigation was filed, in August 2022 ED announced it was granting loan forgiveness to an estimated 79,000 former Westwood College students. However, in a December 11 filing with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, the government revealed more than 14,000 of those students are still waiting for forgiveness. 

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), who has advocated on behalf of Westwood College students for more than a decade, laid out the history of Westwood College’s deception on the Senate floor in 2022. After the Department of Education’s announcement that year, Senator Durbin, Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul, and others widely praised the Department’s steps to provide justice for former Westwood students. 

“For nearly ten years, I have fought alongside former Westwood students to secure approval for their borrower defense claims. In 2022, we succeeded, guaranteeing $1.5 billion in student debt relief for the tens of thousands of student borrowers who were defrauded by Westwood College, including $228 million for Illinois borrowers. But three years later, more than 14,000 former Westwood students have yet to see their loans discharged,” said Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL). “Without this promised relief, these students are forced to live their lives on hold by putting off serious financial decisions like starting a family or buying a home because their student debt continues to loom over them. It’s time Westwood students got answers about when they can expect the financial relief they deserve.”

“Borrowers who were deceived by Westwood College’s false promises have waited long enough for relief,” said Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul. “The lawsuit the Illinois Attorney General’s office filed against Westwood resulted in a settlement discharging $15 million in private student loans, and I have continued to advocate for the discharge of former Westwood students’ debt. While I appreciate the work that has been done in discharging some former Westwood students’ debt, the department must keep its promise and discharge all Westwood borrowers’ remaining debt. These borrowers should no longer be burdened with federal student loan debt because they were misled by their schools.”

“It is wholly unacceptable that more than 14,000 defrauded Westwood College students are still waiting for ED to follow through on its promise, made more than three years ago, to forgive loans due to Westwood’s misconduct.” said Student Defense Vice President and Chief Counsel Dan Zibel. “These students shouldn’t be punished because the Department of Education can’t or won’t do its job. To make matters worse, the Department has no clear answer for when the relief will be provided. Make no mistake: these students are legally owed relief, and this failure needs to be fixed fast.”

“While the Department of Education fails to follow through on its promise to provide automatic relief to people who borrowed student loans to attend Westwood, borrowers are left in limbo, with debt still on their credit reports complicating their ability to get things like car loans, mortgages, and credit cards,” said Kyra Taylor, staff attorney at the National Consumer Law Center. “First, students were misled by Westwood College’s promises, and now the Department’s snail-like pace of providing relief has left many wondering if the Department misled them as well. The Department of Education must quickly deliver student loan discharges to these borrowers, whose financial well-being has been repeatedly harmed through no fault of their own.” 

“The Department of Education has failed 14,000 former Westwood College students who have been waiting years—some more than a decade—to get back money that’s legally theirs,” said Chavis Jones, Counsel at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. “We know Black students and other students of color were disproportionately defrauded by Westwood College. By dragging its feet, the government is complicit in prolonging their pain and suffering. It’s time to stop playing games and give these students what they are owed.”

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