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Outlet profile

Project on Predatory Student Lending

U.S. progressive / consumer-advocacy left

Owned byIndependent nonprofit organization (Project on Predatory Student Lending, Inc., EIN 87-4582545); previously housed within Harvard Law School's Legal Services Center from 2012 to 2022
FundingNonprofit donations and grants; no advertising or subscription revenue; spent $40,000 on federal lobbying in 2025
On the administrationbroadly critical

Background

PPSL was founded in 2012 by Toby Merrill at Harvard Law School's Legal Services Center, in part inspired by parallels between subprime mortgage lending and the practices of predatory for-profit colleges. For its first decade it operated as a clinic within Harvard, growing into the leading legal voice for defrauded student borrowers. In August 2022 it formally separated from Harvard and relaunched as a fully independent nonprofit, with all cases and clients transferred to the new entity. Its highest-profile legal achievement is Sweet v. McMahon, which became the largest-ever class-action settlement against the U.S. government, erasing roughly $23 billion in student debt for more than 200,000 borrowers. PPSL claims to have secured cancellation of over $50 billion in fraudulent student loans in total. The organization sits clearly on the progressive side of higher-education policy debates: it advocates for expansive borrower-defense regulations, opposes privatization of student loan portfolios, and has publicly condemned Trump-era legislation — including the 2025 'One Big Beautiful Bill Act' — for delaying borrower-defense protections until 2035 and opening the door to private lenders. In 2025 it launched a borrower-led Community Action Council and sent members to Capitol Hill to lobby against the administration's student loan agenda.

Sources

  1. About PPSL — Project on Predatory Student Lending
  2. The Project on Predatory Student Lending Relaunches as Independent, Nonprofit Organization
  3. The Project on Predatory Student Lending Relaunches — Legal Services Center, Harvard Law School
  4. Our Impact — Project on Predatory Student Lending
  5. What PPSL Fought For in 2025 – And What Comes Next
  6. Project on Predatory Student Lending Lobbying Profile — OpenSecrets
  7. Project On Predatory Student Lending Inc — GuideStar Profile
  8. 'Attacking the Concept of Debt' — Harvard Magazine

Profile compiled 2026-08-01; refreshed when ownership, funding, or the administration changes.

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