FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
OCTOBER 29, 2026
MEDIA CONTACT
Trump Administration Sued For Illegally Withholding Closed School Loan Discharges From Thousands of Students
Washington, D.C. — Student Defense filed a class action lawsuit Wednesday against the U.S. Department of Education and Education Secretary Linda McMahon on behalf of students whose federal student loans have not been discharged, despite a 2025 decision that extended “closed school discharge” eligibility for their schools.
For more than 30 years, the Department’s regulations have made closed school discharges available to borrowers who were enrolled at the time of closure or who withdrew within a prescribed period of time prior to such closure, often called the “look-back period.” Throughout this 30-year period, the Secretary has held the authority to extend the look-back period when a school closes under “exceptional circumstances.”
In January 2025, the Secretary used that authority to extend the look-back periods for students who attended schools owned by for-profit college operators: Career Education Corporation (CEC), Education Management Corporation (EDMC), and Education Corporation of America (ECA), as well as Bay State College (the “2025 Decision”). The Department never implemented the decision.
The lead plaintiff, Kendrick Gaussoin, was a student at the CEC-owned Brooks Institute. Although he became eligible for a closed school discharge through the 2025 Decision, the Department denied his application. Mr. Gaussoin is not alone. According to the lawsuit, many thousands of student loan borrowers are entitled to closed school discharges under the 2025 Decision, but have not received them.
“I enrolled at the Brooks Institute to chase my dream of being a snowboard photographer. Instead, the school fell apart, leaving me with tens of thousands of dollars of debt and no degree,” said Kendrick Gaussoin, the lead plaintiff in the case. “When the Department expanded relief for Brooks students, I was overjoyed. I qualify, but my application was denied anyway. Now I am a father of two, struggling to get by and still carrying debt for a school that failed me. The Department must honor its decision and give students like me the relief we were promised.”
“The Department cannot make promises to students and then pretend that those promises do not exist,” said Alexander Elson, Co-founder and Vice President of Student Defense. "Thousands of borrowers are entitled to discharges under the Department’s 2025 Decision, and we are going to court to make sure they receive them.”
The lawsuit seeks to compel the Department to implement the 2025 Decision and provide closed school discharges to all of the borrowers who are entitled to them.
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About Student Defense
The National Student Legal Defense Network (“Student Defense”) is a non-profit organization that works, through litigation and advocacy, to advance students' rights to educational opportunity and to ensure that higher education provides a launching point for economic mobility.
