A lawsuit against 16 major universities seeks to prevent top schools from collaborating when calculating financial aid for students. The lawsuit filed late Sunday accuses universities—including Yale, Columbia, Duke, and Notre Dame—of engaging in price fixing and limiting aid by teaming up on formulas to calculate financial need. While federal law allows universities to collaborate on formulas, the suit alleges that these schools have in some circumstances violated the stipulation that financial need won’t be considered in admitting students. The suit alleges that because ability to pay is sometimes weighed, these schools shouldn’t be eligible for the antitrust exemption. More than 170,000 former students could be eligible to join the lawsuit as plaintiffs.
