Emory University agreed to pay $18.5 million to resolve its part in a 2022 federal antitrust lawsuit, according to a preliminary settlement that awaits final court approval.
Emory is among 17 highly ranked, private universities sued on behalf of students who allege the schools “conspired to reduce the amount of financial aid they provide to admitted students,” according to the initial complaint.
Documents filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Illinois show Emory as well as Brown, Columbia, Duke and Yale universities agreed to make combined settlement payments of $104.5 million.
In a statement, Emory spokeswoman Laura Diamond said: “While Emory continues to believe the plaintiffs’ claims have no merit, we are pleased the litigation is behind us. Our focus has been and always will be to make an Emory education accessible to all talented students, regardless of their financial resources, and we look forward to continuing that mission.”
The court still must review and approve the settlement.
The court previously gave preliminary approval to a settlement from the University of Chicago of $13.5 million. Legal filings indicate a settlement for an unspecified amount also has been reached with Vanderbilt University and is pending finalization.
The 10 other schools named as defendants are the University of Pennsylvania, Georgetown University, Cornell University, University of Notre Dame, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Caltech, Johns Hopkins University, Dartmouth College, Northwestern University and Rice University. Inside Higher Ed reported that Rice will pay more than $33 million to settle the case, citing university financial statements.
Attorneys for the plaintiffs called on the remaining schools to reach agreements.
“It is past time for the presidents and governing bodies of the remaining defendants to stand up and do the right thing for their students and alumni, and resolve the overcharges to middle class and working class students that stemmed from the twenty years of collusion on financial aid by elite universities,” said New York-based attorney Robert D. Gilbert, in a written statement.
The lawsuit alleges that some of the schools favored wealthy applicants in their admissions.
At various times, the schools named in the suit were members of the “568 Presidents Group.” Plaintiffs allege the schools “conspired” through that organization to share financial aid information and agreed to use common principles to calculate students’ financial need, according to court filings. The lawsuit argues that if the schools hadn’t done so, they would have competed with one another to award more financial aid.
Emory joined the group in 1998 and withdrew in 2012, according to the complaint. The group dissolved in late 2022.
The lawsuit alleges the schools overcharged more than 170,000 financial aid recipients “by at least hundreds of millions of dollars” over nearly two decades.
Eligible students who enrolled at the 17 defendant schools could receive an average cash payment of about $750 from the settlement fund, according to legal filings.
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