Information for Vara v. Cardona Class Members

The Latest

In a huge victory for defrauded students, on July 15, 2021, the U.S. Department of Education filed a motion dropping its appeal in Vara v. Cardona. This means that the Department must now comply with a federal court order giving full loan discharges and a favorable borrower defense decision to 7,200 former Everest Massachusetts students and their families. On August 10, 2021, the Department formally issued a decision announcing its intention to discharge the loans, provide refunds for amounts paid, and adjust borrowers’ credit scores. The Department is still in the process of distributing relief to Vara class members. 

If you are a class member and you have not yet received your loan discharge or refund, please fill out our form here.

Questions about the case

  • This case is about getting complete discharge of all federal student loans from Everest Massachusetts. On June 26, 2020, the court decided that the class of student borrowers had established the right to have their federal student loans completely cancelled.

    The Department of Education appealed the court’s decision, but on June 15, 2021, they announced they would no longer continue with the appeal and dismissed it.

    For more information, visit the Vara v. Cardona case page.

  • This means that the original court decision stands and that all class members will receive full loan discharges and a favorable borrower defense decision on their Everest Massachusetts federal student loans. The Department has issued a reasoned decision on the Massachusetts Attorney General’s group borrower defense application, available here.

  • You are likely a member of the class in this case if both of the following are true:

    • You took out federal student loans for you or your child to attend Everest Institute in Brighton or Chelsea, Massachusetts, between 2007 and 2015; and

    • You have not already had your federal student loans associated with Everest completely cancelled after submitting a borrower defense application that was approved by the Department of Education.

  • The decision in this case says that all class members have a right to full loan discharges and a favorable borrower defense decision on their federal student loans and the Department of Education must now comply with it.

  • The class includes those borrowers who “have not yet received a refund of sums already collected,” so the Department does have to refund payments already made. If you are a class member who made payments toward your Everest loans but you have not yet received a refund, please fill out our form here.

  • As we said above, the class includes those borrowers who “have not yet received a refund of sums already collected,” so the Department will have to refund payments already made. This should include refunds for class members who already paid off their loans. If you are a class member who paid off your Everest loans but you have not yet received a refund, please fill out our form here.

  • There are no immediate steps for class members to take at the moment. PPSL is working to ensure that the Department of Education moves forward with providing relief to class members as soon as possible.

    We will post more information to this website as we receive it.