The U.S. Department of Education flouted federal law on agency rulemaking and violated the Privacy Act when it suddenly changed its student loan forgiveness policy, a putative class of former students of the now-defunct Corinthian College told a California federal judge Monday, arguing that without a temporary bar on the new policy, they’d be forced to choose between life necessities and loan defaults.

Thousands of ex-Corinthian Colleges students are anxiously awaiting the outcome of a Monday court hearing that could determine whether they still have to pay the loans they took out to attend the now-closed, for-profit colleges.

Thousands of former Corinthian Colleges students face a potentially pivotal court hearing Monday in a battle to erase millions of dollars in loan debt for their studies at the scandal-scarred, for-profit schools.