A federal appeals court rejected the Education Department’s request to delay borrower-defense decisions for tens of thousands of applicants, maintaining the pace of relief obligations under a 2022 settlement. The court found the agency did not show “circumstances have shifted” enough to justify changing the agreement. The dispute centers on Education’s push for an 18-month delay for a large tranche of pending applications—over 250,000—including delays that left only about 60,000 completed by the original Jan. 28 deadline. Under the settlement framework, the agency must provide either timely decisions or automatic relief. Advocates for borrowers, including the Project on Predatory Student Lending, said the ruling brings the Department closer to fulfilling relief to more than 170,000 borrowers identified as needing outcomes under the settlement. For universities that enroll at-risk students in relevant cohorts, the decision adds continuing uncertainty for institutional liability, portfolio-based risk management, and how campuses address misrepresentation claims and documentation for affected students.