$17.25M Naviance Lawsuit Settlement, Naviance Was Secretly Tracking Students Now There’s $17.25 Million Up for Grabs Here’s How to Claim It.

PowerSchool Holdings, Hobsons, analytics firm Heap, and the Chicago Board of Education agreed to a $17.25 million settlement to resolve claims that they unlawfully tracked and intercepted students’ private communications inside the Naviance college and career platform without telling anyone. To receive a payment, you must submit a claim form by Monday, July 27, 2026. No proof is required. The whole process takes about five minutes.

Field	Detail
Settlement Amount	$17,250,000
Claim Deadline	July 27, 2026
Who Qualifies	U.S. students who logged into Naviance at least once between August 18, 2021 – January 23, 2026
Payout Per Person	Pro-rata share — exact amount depends on total claims filed
Proof Required	No
Settlement Status	Preliminarily Approved — February 27, 2026
Final Approval Hearing	August 19, 2026
Administrator	Kroll Settlement Administration LLC
Official Website	PowerSchoolNavianceSettlement.com

• The court granted preliminary approval on February 27, 2026. A final approval hearing is scheduled for June 10, 2026.
• The deadline to opt out or object to the settlement is Monday, July 13, 2026.
• Payments will go out approximately 45 days after final approval is granted and any appeals are resolved. Checks expire 180 days after issuance.

Naviance Was Supposed to Help Students Plan Their Future. It Was Also Watching Their Every Click.

PowerSchool Holdings and its subsidiary Hobsons built Naviance, one of the most widely used college and career guidance platforms in American schools. More than 10 million students used it between August 2021 and January 2026 to take assessments, complete surveys, research colleges, and communicate with counselors. Most had no idea what was happening underneath the surface.

The lawsuit alleged that while students were using Naviance for school purposes — searching colleges, filling out career surveys, browsing course options — the platform was secretly intercepting their private communications and activity data and sharing it with third-party analytics and advertising companies without students’ or parents’ knowledge or consent. The firm at the center of that allegation was a company called Heap.

When embedded in a website or application, Heap records clicks, page views, form submissions, scroll behavior, and other user actions. In the context of Naviance, this meant Heap was capturing how students navigated the platform, what they searched for, what assessments they completed, and potentially the contents of their communications with school counselors. That data was then shared with additional companies including Google, Microsoft, Hotjar, and Gainsight.

Many Students Had No Choice But to Use Naviance

CPS reportedly required students to use the Naviance platform for graduation planning and school communications, so they were unable to opt out of data collection practices they later challenged in court. That detail matters legally — students who were forced to use the platform as a school requirement had no meaningful ability to protect themselves.

The lawsuit alleged violations of multiple federal and state privacy laws including the federal Electronic Communications Privacy Act, the Stored Communications Act, the California Invasion of Privacy Act, the Illinois Eavesdropping Act, and the Illinois School Student Records Act. The case was filed in August 2023 by a student identified only as Q.J. in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

PowerSchool did not admit wrongdoing but agreed to settle to avoid the uncertainties and expenses of continued litigation.

Related article: Legal Notice of Class Action Settlement, What It Means and What to Do Next

You Qualify If You Ever Logged Into Naviance as a Student — Not Just in Chicago

This is the question most people are asking, and the answer is simpler than you might expect.

• You may qualify if you logged into Naviance at least once between August 18, 2021 and January 23, 2026, while you were a student.
• This is not limited to Chicago Public Schools students — any student in the country who used Naviance during the class period is included.
• Parents or legal guardians can file a claim on behalf of minor students under age 18 who meet these criteria.
• If you have multiple children who used Naviance, each child qualifies separately — you should have received a separate notice with a unique Student Class Member ID for each child.
• You do not qualify if you only used Naviance before August 18, 2021, or if you accessed it as a teacher, administrator, or counselor rather than as a student.

Not sure if your school used Naviance? PowerSchool serves more than 90 of the top 100 school districts by enrollment nationwide, and more than 80% of all K-12 students in the United States and Canada use PowerSchool products. If you attended a U.S. high school during this period, there is a strong chance your school used it.

How Much Money Will You Actually Get?

After deductions for attorneys’ fees — up to 37% of the fund — administration costs, litigation expenses, and a service award of up to $5,000 for the class representative, the remaining net fund is divided equally among all students who file valid claims.

The math is not generous. With over 10 million potential claimants, individual payouts will be minimal. If even 1 million people file claims, each person would receive roughly $10 after fees. The fewer claims filed, the larger each individual payout grows.

The more significant outcome here is what PowerSchool is being forced to stop doing. For two years, PowerSchool cannot use tracking software from Heap, Google, Microsoft, Hotjar, or Gainsight inside Naviance unless a newly created oversight committee determines it complies with the law. PowerSchool must also direct Heap and all other vendors who received student data to delete it entirely.

Five Minutes Is All It Takes — Here’s Exactly How to File

You can submit a claim form online at the settlement website. If you received a notice by email or mail with a Student Class Member ID, use that ID when filing. If you did not receive a notice but believe you used Naviance during the class period, you can still file through the website.

1. Go to PowerSchoolNavianceSettlement.com and click the claim form link
2. Enter your Student Class Member ID if you received one by email or mail — or enter your name and the email address you used for Naviance
3. Fill in your contact information — parents filing for a minor should use their own contact details
4. Choose how you want to be paid: electronic payment or check
5. Sign and date the attestation confirming you logged into Naviance as a student during the class period
6. Submit your claim and save your confirmation number

If you prefer paper, download the PDF claim form from the settlement website and mail it to: Q.J. v. PowerSchool Holdings LLC, c/o Kroll Settlement Administration LLC, P.O. Box 225391, New York, NY 10150-5391. Your form must be postmarked by July 27, 2026.

Estimated time to complete: 3–5 minutes.

Every Deadline You Need to Know

Milestone	Date
Lawsuit Originally Filed	August 2023
Preliminary Approval Granted	February 27, 2026
Claims Period Opens	Now Open
Opt-Out Deadline	July 13, 2026
Objection Deadline	July 13, 2026
Claim Filing Deadline	July 27, 2026
Final Approval Hearing	August 19, 2026
Expected Payment Date	~45 days after final approval + any appeals

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need a lawyer to file a claim? 

No. You file directly at PowerSchoolNavianceSettlement.com in a few minutes. No attorney is needed and there is no cost to submit a claim.

Is this settlement legitimate?

 Yes. The $17.25 million PowerSchool class action settlement received preliminary approval from Judge Jorge L. Alonso in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois on February 27, 2026, in the case Q.J. v. PowerSchool Holdings LLC. The official settlement website is administered by Kroll Settlement Administration.

I didn’t go to Chicago Public Schools. Can I still file? 

Yes. This is not limited to Chicago Public Schools students — any student in the country who used Naviance during the class period is included. CPS is named as a defendant because the lead plaintiff attended a CPS school, but the class is nationwide.

I used Naviance but never received a notice. Can I still file? 

Yes. If you did not receive a notice but believe you used Naviance during the class period, you can still file through the settlement website. You will need to provide your name and the email address linked to your Naviance account.

When will I receive my payment? 

The settlement administrator will issue payments approximately 45 days after the court resolves any appeals and grants final approval. The final approval hearing is August 19, 2026, so payments are unlikely before late 2026 at the earliest.

What if I missed the claim deadline? 

The claim deadline is July 27, 2026, and has not yet passed. If you miss it, you will not receive a payment but you will still be bound by the settlement and cannot bring your own separate lawsuit over the same Naviance tracking claims.

Will this settlement payment affect my taxes?

 Potentially. Settlement payments related to privacy violations can be taxable depending on how the IRS classifies them. The amounts here are expected to be small, but consult a tax professional if you are unsure how to treat the payment.

My child used Naviance. Can I file on their behalf?

 Yes. Parents or legal guardians can file a claim on behalf of minor students under age 18. If you have more than one child who used Naviance, each child requires a separate claim form.

Sources & References

• Official Settlement Website: PowerSchoolNavianceSettlement.com
• The Record from Recorded Future News — PowerSchool, Chicago Public Schools to settle student data privacy lawsuit for $17 million (February 25, 2026): therecord.media
• Bloomberg Law — PowerSchool’s $17.3 Million Student-Data Settlement Approved (February 26, 2026): bloomberglaw.com
• GovTech — PowerSchool, Chicago Schools Agree to Pay $17.25M Settlement (February 27, 2026): govtech.com

Last Updated: March 30, 2026

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Legal claims and outcomes depend on specific facts and applicable law. For advice regarding a particular situation, consult a qualified attorney.