BUZZ
Schools signed agreement to not ‘compete for students’
A federal lawsuit accusing 32 universities and two college admission organizations of inflating attendance costs through early decision programs can move forward, a judge ruled Friday.
U.S. District Judge Angel Kelley in Massachusetts denied a joint motion to dismiss filed by the universities, ruling that the plaintiffs’ antitrust conspiracy claim is plausible.
However, she dismissed claims against the admissions platforms, as the plaintiffs did not present enough “direct or indirect evidence of an agreement to enter a conspiracy” against them, according to the ruling.
Judge Kelley specifically pointed to an agreement signed by multiple schools to not “compete for students” who had already been admitted via another college’s early decision process.
The lawsuit states that while early admission boosts a student’s chance of acceptance, it requires them to withdraw other applications and “pay whatever tuition and fees the school demands of them,” The College Fix previously reported.
The lawsuit accuses universities including Brown, Dartmouth, Vanderbilt, Johns Hopkins, Cornell, Barnard, Columbia, and Duke of “participating in practices that entrench patterns of inequality of access while inflating the price of attendance.”
It also claims the schools agreed not to compete for students admitted through early decision, which raises tuition and fees while reinforcing “a system widely acknowledged to be unfair and harmful.”
The students are seeking compensation for those who allegedly overpaid due to early admissions, and are calling for an end to these programs.
The schools petitioned the court to dismiss the claims, stating they were “implausible speculation.” Now, the lawsuit can proceed.
Edward Diver, an attorney representing the students, told The Fix last year that the early admissions “system harms students, particularly disfavors price-sensitive applicants, and allows schools to raise tuition—all because of collusive behavior that violates antitrust law.”
While students battle inflated tuition in court, the cost to attend 16 colleges and universities across the nation has surged past $100,000 per year, The College Fix previously reported.
“For the 2026-27 academic year, 16 institutions — including Duke, Georgetown, New York University and University of Chicago — have a sticker price of more than $100,000, according to data exclusively provided to CNBC from The Princeton Review’s upcoming ‘The Best 392 Colleges’ list,’” CNBC reported.
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