The U.S. Department of Education requested an 18‑month delay to its court-ordered timeline for resolving nearly 200,000 borrower‑defense claims tied to a landmark 2022 settlement. The agency told a federal judge it lacks resources to issue timely decisions for the group of borrowers promised automatic relief if claims weren’t decided by late January. The move came in filings in Sweet v. McMahon and drew immediate pushback from the Project on Predatory Student Lending, which urged the court to reject the extension and force the department to honor its deadlines. The settlement divides claimants into cohorts with different relief triggers; the delay would move the automatic‑relief date to July 2027 for a large tranche of applicants. For higher education leaders and compliance teams, the extension raises operational and reputational stakes: colleges that face borrower‑defense claims could see protracted litigation and uncertainty about clawbacks or regulatory action. The department said it will provide another status update in December, but signaled it needs more time to process the backlog.