College Students to Top Universities

🏫 16 major American universities, including six Ivy League schools, are being sued for alleged antitrust violations over how they work together to determine financial aid. The lawsuit, filed by five former students, alleges the schools engaged in price-fixing and unfairly limited aid by using a shared methodology to calculate applicants' financial needs.

• Universities can collaborate on their formulas under federal law, but only if they don't consider financial need in admissions decisions.
• The five students claim these schools illegally considered applicants' ability to pay in certain circumstances, which should eliminate their antitrust exemption. They're seeking damages and a permanent end to such collaboration.

​​+Looking ahead: More than 170,000 former undergraduate students who received partial financial aid at any of the universities over the past 18 years could be eligible to join the suit as plaintiffs. The lawsuit argues these students were overcharged by "at least hundreds of millions of dollars." (See the full list of schools.)