A group of 40 prestigious private universities in the United States is facing a new antitrust lawsuit, with allegations of colluding to inflate tuition costs by factoring in the assets of noncustodial parents when calculating financial aid. The proposed class action was initiated by a Boston University student and a Cornell University alumnus and was filed on Monday evening in Chicago.
Among the defendants are notable institutions such as Northwestern, Harvard, Yale, Dartmouth, Cornell, and Georgetown, along with several other prominent universities. The lawsuit also names the nonprofit College Board, which is accused of developing the financial aid methodology that the schools allegedly employ.
According to the plaintiffs’ attorneys, there are at least 20,000 prospective class members adversely affected by the actions of the defendant institutions. The lawsuit claims that, without this alleged agreement, the universities would have competed more effectively in providing financial aid to attract top candidates.
In a statement, the College Board expressed confidence in its position, stating, “we are confident that we will prevail in this action.” Many of the defendant schools, including Cornell, Boston University, Northwestern, Harvard, Yale, Dartmouth, and Georgetown, either declined to comment or did not respond immediately to inquiries.
Other institutions named in the lawsuit include the California Institute of Technology, Columbia University, New York University, Stanford University, and Duke University, all of which also refrained from commenting.
“Paying for tuition is a hardship for almost every family, and this case seeks to remedy a price-fixing agreement that has raised the cost of attending college,” said Steve Berman, one of the attorneys representing the plaintiffs.
The lawsuit alleges that the College Board made a deliberate effort in 2006 to require schools to consider the income and assets of noncustodial parents in financial aid calculations. All named universities require this information as part of their aid application processes.
The plaintiffs argue that students at institutions that take noncustodial finances into account pay thousands more compared to those at schools that do not. The lawsuit seeks more than $5 million in damages and a court order to stop the alleged pricing conspiracy.
This antitrust case marks the second lawsuit filed in federal court in Illinois related to financial aid practices at prominent U.S. colleges. Previously, a U.S. judge in Chicago approved $284 million in settlements with several institutions, including Columbia, Brown, and the University of Chicago, over similar allegations of favoring wealthy applicants during admissions.
The case is titled Hansen v. Northwestern University, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois under case number 1:24-cv-09667. The plaintiffs are represented by Steve Berman, Daniel Kurowski, and Rio Pierce of Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro.
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