Musk team’s access to student loan systems raises alarms over personal information for millions

The missive demanded details astir DOGE’s enactment and vowed to combat immoderate effort to adjacent the Education Department.

Democrats including California Rep. Mark Takano planned to amusement up astatine the department’s Washington office connected Friday and request a gathering with leaders appointed by President Donald Trump.

The section has been successful turmoil arsenic Trump, a Republican, sets retired to abolish it. The White House is considering an enforcement bid that would archer the acquisition caput to slash the section arsenic acold arsenic imaginable and impulse Congress to afloat terminate it. Dozens of employees person been placed connected paid permission with small explanation, and workers from DOGE person begun scouring the department’s records arsenic they look to slash spending.

Musk’s DOGE squad already has gained entree to a database lodging idiosyncratic accusation connected millions of students and parents with national pupil loans, according to 2 radical with cognition of the issue. One of them, a section employee, said a DOGE typical requested the entree much than a week ago. A 3rd idiosyncratic said DOGE would beryllium fixed head entree to the department’s website connected Friday, allowing Musk’s workers to alteration the substance connected immoderate leafage oregon instrumentality the tract offline.

The radical spoke connected the information of anonymity for fearfulness of reprisals.

A national suit filed Friday seeks to artifact DOGE’s entree to pupil fiscal assistance systems, saying it violates privateness rights of millions of national pupil indebtedness borrowers. It was filed by the advocacy radical Student Defense connected behalf of the University of California Student Association.

It says DOGE could present person entree to Social Security numbers, driver’s licence numbers, dates of commencement and interaction accusation for pupil indebtedness borrowers. The database besides houses accusation connected the parents of babelike indebtedness applicants, including citizenship presumption and income information.

The suit says it’s an “enormous and unprecedented” penetration of privateness for much than 42 cardinal radical whose idiosyncratic information is stored successful Federal Student Aid systems. It says those radical trusted the section with their accusation erstwhile they applied for national loans and grants oregon filled retired the FAFSA pupil assistance form.

The Education Department said DOGE is helping it instrumentality to in-person work, restoring accountability for employees and reforming the hiring process to absorption connected merit. It said determination is “nothing inappropriate oregon nefarious going on.”

“The DOGE employees are national employees,” the section said successful a statement. “They person been sworn in, person the indispensable inheritance checks and clearances, and are focused connected making the Department much cost-efficient, effective, and accountable to the taxpayers.”

Trump campaigned connected a committedness to adjacent the department, claiming it has been infiltrated by “radicals, zealots and Marxists.” He nominated nonrecreational wrestling mogul Linda McMahon to beryllium his acquisition caput and quipped astatine a Tuesday quality league that helium wants her “to enactment herself retired of a job.”

But Trump’s pledge is colliding with the world that the department’s beingness and astir of its spending is ordered by Congress. It’s unclear if Trump could rally governmental enactment to abolish the department, which immoderate Republicans person occasionally attempted but has ne'er gained wide governmental popularity.

The White House tempered its rhetoric connected Thursday erstwhile property caput Karoline Leavitt said Trump and his squad are looking astatine options “to trim the size of the Department of Education, if not abolish it completely.”