Educational Computer Systems, Inc., the Pennsylvania company that handles tax forms, tuition plans and student loan servicing for colleges, has agreed to a $6.5 million settlement over a website breach that exposed Social Security numbers. People who want a payment must file a claim by December 21, 2026. A court has not yet given final approval, and the company denies any wrongdoing.
The settlement covers anyone living in the United States whose personal information was potentially accessed in the attack on the company’s website, which ran from October 29, 2023 to February 12, 2024. Settlement Insight, which cites court documents, counts 2,577,994 potential class members.
The case is Hood v. Educational Computer Systems, No. 2:24-cv-00666-CCW, in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania. The official settlement website says plainly that a valid claim form is the only way to get money. Doing nothing means no payment.
What was exposed, and for whom
ECSI, based in Coraopolis, Pennsylvania, provides student loan servicing, tuition payment plans and tax document services for colleges and universities. The complaint alleges attackers used a guest tax-form lookup on its website to pull Forms 1098-E and 1098-T, the forms that report student loan interest and tuition paid. Those documents carry names, addresses and Social Security or taxpayer identification numbers.
One school’s own notice shows what the exposure looked like on the ground. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute told the Maine attorney general that its data sat with ECSI, that the breach began October 29, 2023 and was discovered February 12, 2024, and that the exposed data was names combined with Social Security numbers. Its filing says letters went out April 10, 2024 and offered 24 months of Experian credit and identity monitoring.
The complaint alleges ECSI did not notice the intrusion for about four months. The company denies the allegations and any liability, and the court has not ruled for either side, according to the long-form settlement notice.
Anyone who received a notice by mail or email should find it now, because the Notice ID printed on it is needed to file online, and the date that can cost a person the most is not the claim deadline.
The ECSI claim form is due December 21, but opt-outs and objections close a month earlier, on November 20, and the final hearing follows on January 11, 2027. The Settlement & Refund Recovery System explains the four-date rule for reading a settlement notice and walks through filing step by step.
Sort the ECSI notice’s dates before the November 20 cutoff with the Recovery System →
Two ways to be paid
Class members choose one benefit, not both. The first reimburses documented, unreimbursed losses that were more likely than not caused by the breach, up to $5,000. The long-form notice says supporting documentation is required and that handwritten receipts alone are not accepted. According to OpenClassActions, acceptable proof includes statements, receipts or phone records, and the losses must have been incurred between October 29, 2023 and December 21, 2026.
The second is a cash payment the settlement site estimates at about $100. It needs no documentation, and it can move: the site says it is subject to a pro rata reduction or increase depending on how many approved claims come in.
The fund does the arithmetic. Class counsel plans to ask for up to one-third of the $6.5 million, a ceiling of $2,166,666.66, plus $2,500 service awards for each class representative. After the largest possible fee, about $4.33 million would remain before administration costs. At $100 a claim, that is roughly 43,000 cash payments before any cut applies. The class is far larger than that, so the actual payment depends on how many people file.
The ECSI calendar
Four dates sit in the notice, and they do not fall together. Class counsel’s fee request is due November 5. Opt-out and objection requests must be postmarked by November 20, and a person who opts out gives up any payment but keeps the right to sue separately. Claims are due December 21 whether filed online or postmarked. The final approval hearing is January 11, 2027 at 9:30 a.m. Eastern, by telephone, and the court may move it without further notice.
Payments follow final approval and the end of any appeals, the settlement site says, and no payment date has been announced. Class counsel are Nicholas A. Colella of Lynch Carpenter LLP and Nickolas J. Hagman of Cafferty Clobes Meriwether & Sprengel LLP, who also file the motion for final approval the same day claims close.
Filing the ECSI claim before December 21
The free route is the claim form on the settlement website or the printable paper form, mailed to the ECSI Security Incident Settlement Administrator at 1650 Arch Street, Suite 2210, Philadelphia, PA 19103. The administrator’s phone number is 1-877-726-4268.
The online form asks for the Notice ID and Confirmation Code printed on the notice. The paper form does not need a Notice ID. Anyone choosing the $5,000 loss route should gather account statements, receipts and any records tied to an identity theft problem since October 2023 before sitting down to file, because the notice says self-prepared papers alone will not do.
Payment can come by PayPal, Venmo, Zelle or a mailed check, according to OpenClassActions, and a claimant picks the method on the form. A claim mailed on December 21 must carry that day’s postmark, and the notice makes no allowance for late forms.
ECSI’s Notice ID, loss papers and the December 21 line
An ECSI claim sent without the Notice ID, or with loss records that are only self-prepared, can fail on a detail while the December 21 deadline keeps running. The Settlement & Refund Recovery System gives a step-by-step filing walkthrough, so each part of the form is done in order.
Follow a step-by-step ECSI filing walkthrough in the Recovery System →
This article was produced with AI assistance and reviewed by The Financial Wire’s editorial team.
Warren Cohen is a finance writer based in Phoenix, Arizona, covering personal finance topics including credit, banking, and beginner investing. He earned his degree in business administration from Arizona State University and began his career working in consumer finance, where he gained direct experience with lending and credit systems. He now writes for personal finance websites and fintech platforms, focusing on clear, practical content that helps readers make informed financial decisions.
