PowerSchool Naviance Settlement: Claims Closed July 27, 2026 — What Happens Now

Who qualifies

• The settlement class is every person in the United States who, while a student, logged into the Naviance platform at least once between August 18, 2021 and January 23, 2026. Naviance was offered by Hobsons and later by PowerSchool, and most students met it through their high school for college and career planning.
• There was no proof requirement and no purchase to document. Eligibility turned on having logged in during the class period, and many class members received notice because the defendants' records identified them.
• A parent or guardian could file on behalf of a minor. The class is defined by the student's login, not by who submitted the form.
• The claim deadline was July 27, 2026 — online submissions by 11:59 p.m. Central that day, or a paper form postmarked by the same date. That deadline has passed and the administrator is no longer accepting claims. Missing it means no payment from this settlement.
• Being in the class does not mean you were in the 2024 PowerSchool data breach, and being in the breach does not put you in this class. They are different cases, different courts, and only this one has a settlement.

What the case was about, and what happens between now and payment

1. 1

   What Naviance is, and what the lawsuit alleged

   Naviance is a college and career readiness platform that high schools give students for course planning, college research, applications and self-assessments — which means students typed genuinely sensitive things into it. The lawsuit alleged that while students used Naviance, third-party analytics and advertising technologies embedded in the platform intercepted their confidential communications without consent. The complaint named PowerSchool Holdings LLC, Hobsons Inc. (which offered Naviance before PowerSchool), Heap Inc. (an analytics provider) and the Board of Education of the City of Chicago.

2. 2

   The legal claims

   The class action asserted violations of the federal Electronic Communications Privacy Act, 18 U.S.C. § 2511(a); the California Invasion of Privacy Act, California Penal Code §§ 631–632; the Illinois Eavesdropping Act, 720 Ill. Comp. Stat. 5/14-1 et seq.; the Stored Communications Act, 18 U.S.C. § 2702(a)(1); the Illinois School Student Records Act, 5 Ill. Comp. Stat. 10/1 et seq.; and common law. The defendants deny they violated any law and settled to avoid the uncertainty and expense of continued litigation — the standard and legally meaningful posture in a class settlement.

3. 3

   The $17.25 million fund and how it gets divided

   If the court approves, the defendants establish a settlement fund of $17,250,000. That fund pays approved claims, notice and administration expenses, attorneys' fees, costs and expenses, and a service award to the named plaintiff. Whatever remains is split pro rata — the settlement describes it as an equal share — among approved claimants. This is why no honest source can tell you your payment amount yet: with a fixed fund and equal shares, the per-person figure is the net fund divided by the number of valid claims, and claim validation is still under way.

4. 4

   The dates that have already passed

   Exclusions and objections were due July 13, 2026, and the administrator confirms both deadlines have closed. Claims were due July 27, 2026, online by 11:59 p.m. Central or postmarked that day. If you did not file by July 27, you cannot file now — there is no late-claim process, and no service can reopen it for you.

5. 5

   August 19, 2026 — the final approval hearing

   The court will hold the final approval hearing at 11:00 a.m. Central on Wednesday, August 19, 2026, in Courtroom 1903 at the Everett McKinley Dirksen U.S. Courthouse, 219 South Dearborn Street, Chicago, Illinois 60604. At that hearing the judge decides whether the settlement is fair, reasonable and adequate, and rules on attorneys' fees and the service award. Nothing is paid before this happens. Be aware that other sources have circulated a June 10, 2026 hearing date and a May 26, 2026 claim deadline; both are wrong, and the administrator's official dates are the ones above.

6. 6

   After approval — when money actually moves

   Once final judgment is entered, the administrator finishes validating claims and calculates each equal share, then distributes. The usual delay is a few months after approval, and it stretches if anyone appeals: an appeal suspends distribution until it is resolved, which in other settlements has added a year or more. Nobody can promise you a payment date today, and any site publishing one is guessing.

7. 7

   The changes PowerSchool agreed to make

   The settlement is not only money. Within 30 days of final judgment PowerSchool must create a Web Governance Committee to assess analytics and advertising technologies in Naviance, and for two years it may not use third-party software in Naviance from providers including Heap, Google, Microsoft, Hotjar and Gainsight unless that committee finds the use lawful — a carve-out exists for data sub-processors such as AWS, Azure and Snowflake. PowerSchool must also expand its privacy disclosures on the student.naviance.com landing page, instruct Heap, Google, Microsoft and Hotjar to delete class members' data within 10 days of final judgment, and display a privacy notice banner for nine months. Chicago Public Schools separately agreed to tighten the student-data provisions in its third-party contracts.

8. 8

   Do not confuse this with the PowerSchool data breach

   An attacker accessed PowerSchool's systems using a contractor's credentials in 2024, and PowerSchool began notifying customers in January 2025; the incident exposed records for very large numbers of students and teachers nationwide. Those claims were consolidated in the Southern District of California in April 2025 and are being actively litigated — there is no settlement, no fund and no claim form for the breach. Matthew Lane, then 20, was sentenced in October 2025 to four years in federal prison plus three years of supervised release and ordered to pay more than $14 million in restitution. That is criminal restitution owed to the victim companies, not a consumer payout, and it does not reach individual students. If you are searching for a PowerSchool breach claim, there is nothing to file.

9. 9

   If you filed and hear nothing

   Contact Kroll Settlement Administration at (833) 447-8852, or write to Q.J. v. PowerSchool Holdings LLC, c/o Kroll Settlement Administration LLC, P.O. Box 225391, New York, NY 10150-5391. Keep any claim confirmation number. No legitimate administrator charges a fee to process a claim or asks for a payment to release your share — and after the August 19 hearing, the administrator's own site is where status updates appear first.

Frequently asked questions

Sources and official records

Every figure and date on this page was taken from the primary records below — court dockets, agency releases, and the settlement administrator's own notices. Payout averages we describe as averages are calculated from the official totals, not reported per-person estimates.

• Court-authorized settlement website (Kroll) — the $17.25M fund, the August 18 2021–January 23 2026 class period, the closed July 27 2026 claim deadline and the August 19 2026 final approval hearing
• CourtListener docket — Q.J. v. PowerSchool Holdings LLC, No. 1:23-cv-05689 (N.D. Ill.), filed August 18, 2023
• U.S. Department of Justice, District of Massachusetts — Massachusetts man sentenced for the cyber extortion scheme targeting two U.S. companies, the criminal case behind the PowerSchool breach