Am I going to get sued?

So I just got a notification that a collections account was opened on my credit report. The collection is for a loan I pulled out for school in July 2019. I was making a couple of payments on it but due to Covid I lost my job and couldn’t pay for it anymore starting on March 2020. The amount was for $26k and now the collection balance is around $35k. On my credit report the account shows closed on Aug 2021. Can this collections firm sue me and try to get me to pay them back? Any advice or help is appreciated. I don’t think I can afford to pay anything back right now as I’m living check to check.