Students File Lawsuit Against Department of Education Over Illegal DOGE Data Access
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 7, 2025
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Students File Lawsuit Against Department of Education Over Illegal DOGE Data Access
Washington, D.C. — Representing the University of California Student Association, Student Defense and Public Citizen Litigation Group filed a lawsuit today against the Department of Education for sharing confidential student data with the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
On February 3, 2025, The Washington Post reported that DOGE staffers had gained access to multiple internal systems with the Department of Education, including a financial aid dataset that contains the personal information of millions of students enrolled in the federal student aid program.
As a federal agency, the Department of Education is subject to the requirements of the Privacy Act of 1974, which makes the improper disclosure and misuse of sensitive personal and financial information unlawful. In addition, the Department’s records contain tax information protected by confidentiality provisions of the Internal Revenue Code.
According to the complaint, the Defendants have violated the Privacy Act, Internal Revenue Code, and Department regulations by allowing DOGE-affiliated individuals to access the Department’s data and the computer systems that house federal student financial aid information.
The Department collects and maintains sensitive personal and financial information through numerous systems related to the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), student loan repayment, and the operation of its Gainful Employment and Financial Value Transparency regulations, all of which are designed to ensure that higher education programs provide economic benefits to students. The Department maintains names, social security numbers, dates of birth, contact information, demographic information, and – in some cases – bank account information for more than 42 million Americans, accounting for approximately 12.5% of the United States population.
“The Department of Education has tens of millions of Americans’ sensitive personal information—everything from income history to Social Security numbers to banking information,” said Student Defense Vice President Alex Elson. “They collect that data with a promise to keep it safe and use it to help students secure financial aid and make informed decisions about their future. Turning around and handing it over to political operatives with an axe to grind is a fundamental violation of both Americans’ trust and federal law. We urge the Court to quickly stop it.”
“Students’ participation in federal financial aid programs doesn’t give the government carte blanche to use their personal information for whatever purposes it wants,” said Public Citizen Litigation Group attorney Adam Pulver. “And it certainly doesn’t give Elon Musk and ‘DOGE’ the right to use that information to take over the federal government.”
“Students across the country did not consent to having our personal information shared with an unelected and non-Congressionally approved entity like DOGE, and we absolutely did not give permission for them to access it,” said University of California Student Association President Aditi Hariharan. “When students apply for financial aid, enter their social security number on an application, or agree to take out a federal loan, they are trusting that their information will be secure. Releasing student loan borrowers’ personal data is an incredible betrayal by our government, and we hope the Courts will quickly hold the Department of Education accountable.”
The lawsuit seeks any injunctive relief to protect the privacy of individuals whose information is contained within the system of records. The lawsuit also seeks to ensure that future disclosure of individual records will occur only in accordance with the Privacy Act and other applicable law.