The lawsuit aims to prevent the DOGE team from having access to sensitive and confidential Education Department data.

Students “did not consent to having our personal information shared with an unelected and non-Congressionally approved entity,” Aditi Hariharan, the president of the University of California Student Association, said, according to USA Today.

“When students apply for financial aid, enter their social security number on an application, or agree to take out a federal loan, they are trusting that their information will be secure,” Hariharan added. “Releasing student loan borrowers’ personal data is an incredible betrayal by our government, and we hope the Courts will quickly hold the Department of Education accountable.”

The news comes after The Washington Post reported that the DOGE was given access to data of students who received federal financial aid. An employee at the Department of Education confirmed the allegations to USA Today. They told the news outlet that Musk’s team has gained access to the National Student Loan Database System and the Common Origination and Disbursement System, which lists the data of millions of students.

Some Democratic members of Congress are enquiring about the situation. Virginia Rep. Bobby Scott asked the Government Accountability Office, a non-partisan government watchdog, to investigate DOGE’s involvement in several federal agencies, according to USA Today. Rep. Scott asked the organization to “immediately assess” the security of the Department of Education’s IT system.

A group of Democratic senators have also enquired about the issue in a letter to education secretary Denise Carter.

“The federal government’s student loan database contains highly sensitive information for millions of borrowers, including Social Security Numbers, marital status, and income Information. Each year, 13 million students receive federal financial aid; there are over 40 million federal student loan borrowers in the United States,” the letter reads. “It is not at all clear that DOGE officials meet the strict criteria that would allow them to access this sensitive information protected by federal law—or whether DOGE officials have gained access to other sensitive ED databases as part of their efforts to ‘reform’ the agency.”

“This deeply troubling report raises questions about potential exposures of Americans’ private data, the abuse of this data by the Trump Administration, and whether officials who have access to the data may have violated the law or the federal government’s procedures for handling sensitive information,” they added.

The letter also highlights President Donald Trump’s pledge to shut down the Department of Education.

“We will move everything back to the states, where it belongs,” he said in a campaign speech, according to The New York Times. “They can individualize education and do it with the love for their children.”

Democratic lawmakers were denied access to the Department of Education on Friday, as well as the Treasury Department offices, the U.S. Agency for International Development and the Environmental Protection Agency throughout the week.

The news comes as dozens of employees at the Department of Education were put on administrative leave in January.