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Not-For-Profit Educational Organization Claims Department of Education Lacks Transparency over Number of Student Loan Failures

On March 20, a not-for-profit educational organization (Plaintiff), announced a FOIA lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Education (Defendant) in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of Education, No. 1:17-CV-00501 (D.D.C. Mar. 20, 2017). The complaint alleges Defendant failed to respond to a request for access to all records in Defendant’s possession relating to a “coding error” that incorrectly computed College Scorecard repayment ranges, thus “masking [the fact] that most borrowers are failing to pay down their federally-subsidized student loans.” Defendant acknowledged in January of this year that an error in the coding did lead to the “undercounting of some borrowers who had not reduced their loan balances by at least one dollar, and therefore inflated repayment rates for most institutions.” Plaintiff claims to regularly request records from various federal agencies in order to analyze and disseminate findings of interest to the public in an effort to “promote transparency, accountability, and integrity in [the] government” and states it will be “irreparably harmed unless Defendant is compelled to comply with FOIA.”

Student Lending Department of Education College Scorecard