Elite Schools Settle Price-Fixing Lawsuit, Distributing $284 Million to Affected Students
A group of ten elite universities, including Brown, University of Chicago, Columbia, Dartmouth, Duke, Emory, Northwestern, Vanderbilt, Rice, and Yale, have begun distributing payments from a $284 million settlement. This follows a lawsuit filed in 2022 by students who accused these institutions of engaging in a price-fixing scheme that allegedly favored wealthy students and reduced financial aid packages for others. The lawsuit claimed that this practice resulted in overcharging students by hundreds of millions of dollars. Although the schools denied any wrongdoing, they agreed to the settlement to resolve the claims. Payments averaging $2,000 are being sent to current and former students who were enrolled full-time in undergraduate programs, received need-based financial aid, and whose tuition and room and board costs were not fully covered by the aid. The distribution of funds began on July 20, with options for electronic transfers via ACH, PayPal, Zelle, and Venmo, while those opting for physical checks...