Financial aid recipients who attended 10 U.S. colleges can submit claims for a part of a $284 million settlement payout in a category motion lawsuit over alleged price fixing.
The plaintiffs alleged in a January 2022 criticism that these colleges “violated federal antitrust laws by agreeing regarding principles, formulas, and methods of determining financial aid” and “provided less need-based financial aid than they’d have provided had there been full and fair competition,” based on the settlement website.
A complete of 17 universities are defendants within the litigation, and more settlements are possible from the opposite seven colleges. (Students from those remaining seven schools can submit claims together with everyone else through a claim form that became available on Sept. 13, nevertheless it’s not clear how much their universities may comply with pay.)
The “elite” colleges that were named as defendants all primarily had need-blind admissions, a term used when colleges promise to confess students no matter their financial need. In addition they were in some unspecified time in the future a part of an association called the 568 Presidents Group. The group got here together in 1998 and a number of other years later created a technique for assessing an applicant’s ability to pay, which was used to find out financial aid. It was dissolved in 2022, after the lawsuit was filed.
The group described its goals benevolently, and its website said the goal was to “reduce much of the variance in need evaluation results,” nonetheless, the universities were effectively eliminating competition on financial aid, based on the antitrust lawsuit.
Listed below are the ten settlements that have already got final approval:
- University of Chicago: $13.5 million
- Emory University: $18.5 million
- Yale University: $18.5 million
- Brown University: $19.5 million
- Columbia University: $24 million
- Duke University: $24 million
- Dartmouth College: $33.75 million
- Rice University: $33.75 million
- Northwestern University: $43.5 million
- Vanderbilt University: $55 million
The colleges proceed to disclaim all allegations of wrongdoing and a settlement is not an act of contrition. “Defendants have asserted that they’d no agreement with other Universities regarding their financial aid policies” and “that every University’s financial aid policy was lawful and designed to advertise socio-economic diversity at its institution by enhancing financial awards,” based on the settlement website.
What’s the financial aid lawsuit about?
The case involves allegations of price fixing by 17 colleges within the financial aid process.
U.S. colleges are exempt from a key antitrust law in the event that they have need-blind admissions. However the lawsuit alleges that most of the defendant colleges never truly did, citing instances where wealthy students like legacy applicants were favored. Colleges also allegedly favored full-paying applicants when taking students off waitlists.
Subsequently, the suit argues the defendants shouldn’t have been allowed to work together to create uniform standards for assessing need. This alleged collusion limited competition on financial aid offers “driving down aid packages and thereby driving up the net price of attendance for aid-eligible students.”
How much is the settlement?
In an email this week notifying recipients concerning the settlement, the claims administrator estimated that the common claimant could get about $2,000. That is based on an assumption that half of the 200,000 people who find themselves estimated to be eligible actually submit claims on time.
The notice said the payouts will depend upon the common net price of the faculty the claimant attended and the duration of attendance. The scale of your particular alma mater’s settlement is not an element — the payments will come from one combined settlement fund.
Who’s eligible to assert money from this settlement?
There are several criteria you should satisfy to receive a settlement payment. In line with the web site, the settlement includes residents or everlasting residents who were full-time undergraduate students in the course of the “class period” and received need-based financial aid from certainly one of the defendants. You usually are not eligible in case your tuition and room and board were fully covered by financial aid or merit aid.
For a lot of the 17 colleges, financial aid recipients could also be eligible to submit a claim in the event that they were enrolled in some unspecified time in the future between fall 2003 and February 2024. (The “class period” is shorter for Brown, Dartmouth, Emory, CalTech and Johns Hopkins. Details can be found here.)
How one can claim the financial aid settlement?
The only approach to submit a claim for the settlement is to finish the shape online.
In case you received a customized notice concerning the settlement, you must have a notice ID and a confirmation code in your email. Enter that information on the claim form, and proceed to the following page which asks for information like your name and address, the faculty you attended and your financial aid details. The shape also asks so that you can upload a transcript, diploma, student ID or other proof of attendance.
Lastly, select how you want to be paid: Options include Venmo, Zelle, PayPal, Mastercard and direct deposit.
In case you didn’t receive a customized notice of the settlement, there’s still an option on choice to submit a claim form online. The deadline to submit the shape is Dec. 17.
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