Sixteen elite American colleges, including Yale, Dartmouth, and Duke, have been served a class action lawsuit for conspiring to limit financial aid options for new students.
The suit, filed on Jan. 10 in an Illinois federal court, alleges that the schools calculate the financial need of admitted students in a way that intentionally limits options for middle- and working-class households. According to the attorneys who filed the suit, more than 170,000 admitted students from the past 18 years are estimated to have suffered as a result of these practices.
The complaint alleges that the universities “have participated in a price-fixing cartel that is designed to reduce or eliminate financial aid as a locus of competition, and that in fact has artificially inflated the net price of attendance for students receiving financial aid.”
The schools operate on a “need-blind” financial aid policy, assessing applicants regardless of financial circumstances. The practice was devised to promote economic and racial diversity. However, considering the greater abundance of aid opportunities for past or potential donors, options are stacked in favor of children of alumni.
Attorneys from Gilbert Litigators and Counselors, Roche Freedman, Berger Montague, and FeganScott, are seeking compensation for the affected students and an end to exclusionary financial aid practices.
The complaint accuses the following colleges: Georgetown, Columbia, Caltech, Northwestern University, Brown University, the University of Chicago, 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 and Rice University.
The accusations have seen significant challenges from representatives of the universities. “Yale’s financial aid policy is 100% compliant with all applicable laws,” Yale spokesperson Karen Peart wrote in an email on Jan. 11.
Brian E. Clark, a spokesperson for Brown University, claims that Brown has not been served with the suit at all, with the college’s representatives only learning of the accusations through press coverage. “Based on a preliminary review, the complaint against Brown has no merit, and Brown is prepared to mount a strong effort to make this clear,” Clark wrote in an email addressing the complaints.
Financial aid scandals are nothing new among American colleges. What sets these schools apart in that regard, according to Gilbert, is that these schools make suppression of financial aid part of their policy. “These elite universities are gatekeepers to the American Dream,” Robert D. Gilbert, managing partner at Gilbert Litigators and Counselors, told the Washington Post. “And they are closing the gate more than they should.”
