Denver Newsroom, Jan 12, 2022 / 13:00 pm
The University of Notre Dame and Georgetown University are among 16 elite private universities and colleges facing a federal lawsuit that alleges they illegally conspired to reduce financial aid awards to students, in effect a form of price-fixing.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Chicago Jan. 9, depicted these schools as a “cartel” that fixes prices and acts “not only to reduce the amount of total aid offered by each school, but also to reduce the total amount of aid offered to each prospective student at each defendant school.”
Current federal law requires financial aid decisions by colleges and universities to be need-blind as a condition for their antitrust law exemptions.
Peter McDonough, vice president and general counsel of the higher education public policy advocacy group American Council on Education, told the New York Times he would be “very surprised” if the lawsuit is found to have merit.