--- title: Borrowers Are Trying to Get Student Loans Forgiven by Claiming DOGE Broke Privacy Law description: There's nothing to support the claims on social media that you can get loan forgiveness through alleged FERPA violations, experts say. authors: - name: Pete Grieve role: Lead News Reporter url: https://money.com/author/pete-grieve/ bio: Pete Grieve is a personal finance reporter at Money who frequently writes about news and trends related to car buying, auto insurance and gas prices. education: University of Chicago, BA Political Science at_money_since: 2022 articles: 597 covers: - Personal Finance - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Debt - Economy and Politics - Education - Health and Wellness - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes social: - https://twitter.com/pete_grieve - https://linkedin.com/in/pete-grieve-b5aa02138 - https://www.facebook.com/petegrieve4 editors: - name: Kaitlin Mulhere role: Editor url: https://money.com/author/kaitlin-mulhere/ bio: Kaitlin Mulhere has been covering the intersection of college and personal finance since 2015. She enjoys breaking down the complexities of college costs and financial aid, and she also runs Money’s Best Colleges. education: University of Florida at_money_since: 2015 articles: 217 covers: - Personal Finance - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Debt - Economy and Politics - Education - Health and Wellness - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes social: - https://twitter.com/KMulhere - https://www.linkedin.com/in/kaitlin-mulhere-64503048/ published: '2025-02-11T18:06:14.000Z' modified: '2025-02-11T18:08:15.000Z' section: Personal Finance tags: - News word_count: 464 canonical: https://money.com/student-loan-forgiveness-ferpa-violation-rumor/ type: NewsArticle source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![Hand holding a smartphone displaying the TikTok logo, with a graduation cap and money in the background](https://img.money.com/2025/02/News-False-TikTok-Student-Loan-Forgiveness.png) Several videos that began trending on social media over the weekend suggested that [student loan](https://money.com/student-loans/) borrowers may be able to get their loans forgiven by claiming Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency was violating federal student privacy laws. However, student loan lawyers say there's likely no merit to the idea. [Videos](https://www.tiktok.com/@scholarshipcollegemama/video/7469265126814879022) that have racked up hundreds of thousands of [likes on TikTok](https://www.tiktok.com/@parislorren/video/7469226324255771950) encourage student loan borrowers to file complaints and lawsuits claiming violations of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). The act, which protects student education records from being shared with third parties, was allegedly violated when data access was granted to Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) staffers. Even if there are privacy violations, Adam Minsky, a Massachusetts-based attorney who specializes in student loan law, says there's nothing to the purported claim that you can get loan forgiveness through FERPA. There's no "private right of action" under FERPA, which means if an individual asks a court to discharge their loans, the case would be swiftly dismissed. On Friday, the University of California Student Association [filed a lawsuit](https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69620025/1/university-of-california-student-association-v-carter/) asking a federal judge to stop the Musk-led team from having access to Department of Education systems allegedly containing the personal and financial information of student loan borrowers. Democrat lawmakers are also objecting to DOGE potentially gaining access to "internal systems containing personal information on tens of millions of Americans," according to the [Associated Press.](https://apnews.com/article/education-department-trump-doge-8c5bba3883b3d924b28114a4f291bec4) An Education Department spokesperson has denied allegations of any wrongdoing, telling multiple outlets that DOGE staff "have the necessary background checks and clearances" to view Education Department data, adding that "there is nothing inappropriate or nefarious going on." That dispute between Democrats and the administration aside, the claim that you may be able to somehow get your student loans forgiven because of DOGE's involvement at the Education Department is inaccurate, according to attorneys. In a [video](https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7294425900702408710/) responding to the rumor, student loan attorney Jay Fleischman explained that the Supreme Court [established](https://www.oyez.org/cases/2001/01-679) in 2002 that individuals cannot file lawsuits for relief under FERPA. "If you're going to file a lawsuit for violations of FERPA, you're not going anywhere. You're going to waste your time, you're going to waste your money. You're going to get thrown out of court," Fleischman said. Joshua Cohen, a student loan lawyer, echoed Fleischman's opinions and said in a message that suing or filing complaints for this alleged FERPA violation is not a real way for student borrowers to get out of their loans. "People are grasping at anything to discharge their loans," he said. 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