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College Price-Fixing Lawsuit
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Anonymous
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Implicates Georgetown University, the University of Notre Dame, the University of Pennsylvania, MIT, and most Ivy Leagues (17 total colleges are named). Thoughts?
https://wapo.st/49HzgwE |
Anonymous
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Is this a new lawsuit ?
Which schools ? |
Anonymous
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Full list of schools named as defendants:
Yale Columbia Duke Brown Emory Georgetown the California Institute of Technology Northwestern Cornell Dartmouth Penn Vanderbilt MIT Notre Dame Rice University of Chicago Johns Hopkins |
Anonymous
Read the article for more details. It’s a gift link. Highlighting some key excerpts below: “The allegations stem from a class-action lawsuit brought in 2022 by eight former students who said the universities shared a methodology for calculating students’ financial need that reduced the amount of aid the schools provided to low- and middle-income students. Ten of the schools have settled, for a total of $284 million. Those schools have said that the case is without merit and they did nothing wrong, but that they wanted to avoid further expensive litigation. Many also noted they have spent hundreds of millions of dollars on financial aid for needy students. Last year, a spokesman for Vanderbilt noted, the school spent $401 million on financial aid. The proceeds from the settlements will be pooled to provide cash payments to the entire class of 200,000 affected undergraduate students at the 17 schools, not just those who attended the universities that have settled. Georgetown, Penn, Caltech, MIT, Cornell, and Notre Dame continue to fight the lawsuit. Attorneys for the plaintiffs argue that many of these schools became more generous with their financial aid after the Presidents Group disbanded in late 2022. They argue that every school named in the case could have awarded 10 percent to 20 percent more institutional aid from unrestricted endowment funds throughout the 20 years but chose to limit aid packages.“ |
Anonymous
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The article seems to be about a filing in the existing case that showed wealth favoritism, rather than a new case. I might be reading it wrong, though.
It's weird not to mention that a number of universities sued in that case have settled. The deadline to submit claims to be part of that settlement was yesterday actually. |
Anonymous
| Then why is this news today ? Wasn't this lawsuit filed over a year ago ? |
Anonymous
| All of these schools have huge endowments that they invest in private equity portfolios. Private equity is destroying the American middle class. These schools also churn out the majority of PE professionals. All this while receiving tax exempt status from the federal government. Make sense? |
Anonymous
My thought is this is America and anyone can sue anyone else for any reason. |
Anonymous
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They'd each rather pay $30M than defend the case!
They should expand their law schools and jack up law school tuition. |
Anonymous
Lawsuits can take years to wind through the court system, especially class action cases. Several of the named schools have settled and agreed to pay, but others continue fighting the case so it’s not yet fully resolved. This is an update related to a recent motion filed by the plaintiffs showing how these schools treated wealthy applicants (to the detriment of others who may have benefited from financial aid). A example is given referencing a Georgetown memo, which I’m assuming was obtained in discovery. Not surprising to hear this, but it’s spelled out in more definitive terms. Personally, I care about the cost of college and our higher education system seems unattainable for many people of more modest means. Having these elite schools collude to price-fix is rightfully in the news as we are in the height of admissions season. |
Anonymous
And yet 10 of the schools have agreed to pay $284 million. |
Anonymous
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Here’s a different article that does a better job of explaining the case status and how the allegations in the new motion fit into the broader context of these issues.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/education/2024/12/18/lawsuit-college-admissions-donors-price-fixing/77048208007/ |
Anonymous
| Just think of the kids they could have given scholarships to instead of paying lawyers for a stupid lawsuit. |
Anonymous
At $28.4 million per school, that's within the scope of a nuisance lawsuit. |
Anonymous
If only they would have. They’re all about profits. That’s it. |