After the University of Chicago agreed to pay $13.5 million to settle claims it colluded with other elite universities to limit financial aid, attorneys say others may follow.
It is the first defendant in the lawsuit, which was filed in Illinois federal court in January 2022, to settle. Attorneys for eight former students who brought the class-action lawsuit declined to discuss whether other agreements are in the works but said the deal with the University of Chicago is a critical step forward.the plaintiffs’ case and further shines the spotlight on the defendants who have not yet stepped up to do the right thing for their students and alumni,” said Robert D.
The settlement would provide cash payments to the entire class, not just those who attended the University of Chicago. Other schools named in the suit are Georgetown University, Columbia University and the California Institute of Technology, Northwestern University, Brown University, Cornell University, Yale University, Dartmouth College, the University of Pennsylvania, Duke University, Emory University, Vanderbilt University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Notre Dame, Johns Hopkins University and Rice University.
The lawsuit is rooted in a 1994 federal antitrust exemption that let colleges collaborate on financial aid guidelines if they engage in “need-blind” admissions, accepting students without regard for their financial circumstances. Need-blind policies are meant to create economic and racial diversity at prestigious schools that have long been bastions of wealth and privilege.
But the suit alleges the universities in question do consider students’ ability to pay and favor the wealthy by maintaining admissions policies that give a leg up to the children of past or potential donors — which the plaintiffs say violate the antitrust exemption that expired in the fall.The schools were all part of the 568 Presidents Group, an organization of highly selective institutions that collaborated on aid formulas through what they call a consensus approach.
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