The University of California Student Association says the Education Department unlawfully shared financial aid datasets with the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, that include students’ names, Social Security numbers, dates of birth, contact information, demographic information and bank account information.
Representing the student association, Student Defense and the Public Citizen Litigation Group cite violations of the Privacy Act, Internal Revenue Code and Education Department regulations in the complaint. Master promissory notes used to execute federal loans include language that the department will “disclose nonpublic personal information to third parties only as necessary to process and service [the] loan and as permitted by the Privacy Act of 1974.”
Democratic lawmakers sent a letter to the Education Department’s acting Secretary Denise Carter earlier in the week, demanding information on the continuity of department programs and safeguards to protect student data privacy.
“We will not stand by and allow the impact that dismantling the Department of Education would have on the nation’s students, parents, borrowers, educators, and communities,” senators Bernie Sanders, Patty Murry and Tammy Baldwin and representatives Robert Scott and Rosa DeLauro wrote in the letter.
Earlier this week, the Washington Post reported that DOGE staffers accessed multiple internal systems within the Department of Education, potentially compromising the personal information of people enrolled in federal student aid programs — about 12.5% of the U.S. population.
Musk’s reportedly unfettered access to federal government operations has ignited widespread condemnation in the first weeks of President Donald Trump’s second term.
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