The California University Student Association has filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Education, seeking to halt Elon Musk’s team’s access to the federal student financial aid database. According to the complaint, DOGE employees have gained access to the confidential records of more than 42 million Americans.
The lawsuit alleges that approximately 20 DOGE employees were embedded within the Department of Education, granting them access to various internal systems, including databases containing information on federal student loan borrowers. The document notes that federal loans impact nearly 13% of the U.S. population, with these databases storing not only borrower details but also personal information of their parents and spouses.
The plaintiffs argue that this access violates the Privacy Act and the U.S. Tax Code. The lawsuit specifies that the transmitted data includes Social Security numbers (SSN), birth dates, contact details, driver’s license numbers, and extensive financial and demographic information, including marital status, citizenship, and veteran affiliation.
Legal advocacy groups Public Citizen Litigation Group and the National Student Legal Defense Network, representing the students, emphasize that the Department of Education failed to disclose the decision to grant DOGE employees access. The plaintiffs stress that students’ personal data is collected strictly for loan processing and servicing purposes and should not be repurposed for other government initiatives.
An official spokesperson for the Department of Education declined to comment, citing ongoing litigation, while the White House has yet to respond to requests for a statement.
The plaintiffs further argue that the lack of transparency regarding DOGE’s involvement deprives borrowers of the ability to determine whether their personal data is being shared with third parties and for what purpose. The lawsuit asserts that the scale of this alleged privacy violation is unprecedented, and that borrowers should not be subjected to the involuntary disclosure of their data to DOGE. According to the plaintiffs, federal law provides no legal basis for such actions.
The day after the lawsuit was filed, a U.S. federal judge issued a temporary order restricting DOGE employees from accessing the Treasury Department’s payment systems, responding to a separate legal challenge previously filed by labor unions. Additionally, a coalition of attorneys general from 14 U.S. states has announced its intention to file a lawsuit against Elon Musk and the DOGE team for unauthorized access to government payment systems containing the personal data of millions of individuals.
