Attended Mount Washington College or Hesser College? Your Federal Student Loans May Deserve a Second Look

If you attended Mount Washington College, formerly Hesser College, took out federal student loans, and believe the school gave you misleading information before or during enrollment, you may have an important federal relief option to investigate.

Mount Washington College is not simply another closed college. It was owned within the Kaplan education organization, underwent Department of Education program review, ultimately closed, and is specifically named in the official Sweet v. Cardona Settlement Agreement Exhibit C under Graham Holdings Company, Kaplan.

That does not automatically mean every former student qualifies for loan cancellation. But if what you were told about employment, career services, costs, financial aid, program quality, accreditation, transferability, or other important enrollment issues did not match reality, Borrower Defense to Repayment may be worth investigating.

Mount Washington College Is Listed in Sweet v. Cardona Exhibit C

This is one of the most important public records former students should know about.

The U.S. Department of Education's official corrected Sweet v. Cardona Exhibit C lists Mount Washington College beneath Graham Holdings Company, Kaplan, alongside Kaplan College and Kaplan Career Institute.

View the official Sweet v. Cardona Exhibit C on Federal Student Aid

The federal court approved the Sweet settlement on November 16, 2022. The court also stressed an important limitation: inclusion in Exhibit C was not itself a legal finding of misconduct against an individual school. The automatic relief created by that settlement applied to qualifying class members under the settlement's terms.

For former Mount Washington College students outside that Sweet class, the school's inclusion can provide useful historical context, but a new Borrower Defense claim still needs to be based on the borrower's own facts and supporting evidence.

The Department of Education Found Compliance Issues During a Mount Washington College Review

Mount Washington College itself was also reviewed by the U.S. Department of Education.

According to Graham Holdings' SEC filing, the Department conducted a program review at Mount Washington College from July 21 through July 25, 2014. The review produced an expedited Final Program Review letter containing findings of non-compliance. The filing states that Mount Washington College corrected and resolved those findings before the final letter and that the review closed without material liability or impact on operations.

That distinction matters. This was not an unresolved enforcement judgment, but it is still an official record showing that federal reviewers identified compliance problems at the school.

Mount Washington College Was Part of the Kaplan Higher Education System

Former Hesser College students should also know the name change history.

Kaplan's SEC filings identify Mount Washington College as formerly Hesser College and place it within Kaplan Higher Education's campus operations. The institution progressively stopped enrolling students at locations before eventually shutting down.

The New England Commission of Higher Education records Mount Washington College as closed effective April 30, 2016.

That means a borrower who remembers attending Hesser College may actually need to search for records and relief information under both Hesser College and Mount Washington College.

Kaplan's Broader Regulatory History May Be Relevant Context

Several government actions involving other Kaplan Higher Education operations are also worth knowing about, particularly if a former Mount Washington College student experienced similar recruiting or employment-related representations.

In 2014, Kaplan entered into an Assurance of Voluntary Compliance following a Florida Attorney General investigation concerning enrollment and marketing practices. The agreement applied to Kaplan Higher Education, Kaplan Higher Education Campuses, and Kaplan University. Kaplan agreed to measures addressing disclosures involving accreditation, costs, financial aid, and employment services, along with other relief and compliance provisions.

In 2015, the Massachusetts Attorney General announced a 1.375 million dollar settlement with Kaplan Higher Education concerning Kaplan Career Institute campuses. The state alleged misleading job-placement figures and unfair recruiting practices. Kaplan denied wrongdoing, and the settlement was not an adjudication against Mount Washington College.

Read the Massachusetts Attorney General's Kaplan settlement announcement

Also in 2015, Kaplan agreed to approximately 1.3 million dollars in a U.S. Department of Justice settlement concerning allegations that unqualified instructors had taught medical-assistant courses at two Kaplan College campuses in Texas. Again, those allegations concerned different Kaplan campuses, not Mount Washington College itself.

Read the U.S. Department of Justice Kaplan settlement

These corporate-family actions should not be presented as proof that Mount Washington College committed the same conduct. They may, however, provide useful corroborative background when a former Mount Washington College student has documented firsthand evidence involving similar representations.

Could Borrower Defense Apply to Your Mount Washington College Loans?

Borrower Defense to Repayment is a federal student-loan discharge process for borrowers whose schools engaged in qualifying misconduct. Federal Student Aid continues to process Borrower Defense applications, and in March 2026 the Department announced that it had resumed adjudication of applications not governed by the Sweet settlement.

Your experience may deserve closer review if Mount Washington College or Hesser College told you something important about:

• Job placement or employment prospects
• Expected salaries or career advancement
• Career placement assistance
• Total program cost or financial aid
• The amount you would need to borrow
• Accreditation or professional licensing
• Transferability of credits
• Program quality or available educational services
• How quickly you needed to enroll

The strongest Borrower Defense applications do more than point to lawsuits or investigations. They explain what the school represented, who made the representation, approximately when it happened, why the borrower relied on it, and how that reliance caused financial or educational harm.

Do You Want to File the Claim Yourself?

You are not required to use a third party to file a Borrower Defense application.

If you prefer to research, organize your evidence, and prepare the application yourself, use our step-by-step:

👉 Borrower Defense Do It Yourself Guide

You can also review government actions, lawsuits, settlements, and other potentially useful records we have collected for other schools:

👉 Browse Usable School Misconduct Evidence

Or search our full school directory:

👉 Search All Colleges and Universities

Do Not Ignore What Happened to You

If you borrowed thousands of dollars because you believed representations made by Mount Washington College or Hesser College, only to discover that important information was inaccurate or omitted, you do not have to assume that nothing can be done simply because the school closed years ago.

Borrower Defense remains an available federal process. What matters is whether you experienced qualifying misconduct, relied on it when deciding to enroll, continue attending, or borrow, and can explain and document the harm that followed.

Start by gathering your enrollment documents, financial-aid records, emails, advertisements, catalogs, screenshots, job-placement materials, transcripts, and anything showing what Mount Washington College promised you.

Then compare your experience with the available evidence and determine whether a Borrower Defense application makes sense for your situation.

Ready to investigate your Mount Washington College loans?

Visit DefenseClaims.com and start:

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👉 START your Borrower Defense application

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