Vanderbilt has agreed to pay $55 million to settle the antitrust lawsuit that alleges the university colluded with other top institutions to fix attendance costs in order to limit the amount of financial aid a student receives. Vanderbilt joins Dartmouth, Rice and Northwestern as the “Third Tranche Settling Universities,” bringing the total number of settling universities to 10, according to a Feb. 23 court filing.
The January 2022 class-action suit, filed on behalf of over 200,000 people, claims Vanderbilt and 16 other top universities — all part of the Presidents 568 Group — “artificially inflated net prices of attendance” for students receiving financial aid by colluding on metrics utilized in determining financial aid allocations. The Presidents 568 Group was dissolved in November 2022.
Through the Improving America’s Schools Act of 1994, higher-education institutions are exempt from federal antitrust laws, allowing the universities of the Presidents 568 Group to discuss metrics used in financial aid calculations so long as they employ “need-blind” practices when considering admissions.
The lawsuit alleges that all members of the suit either violated this practice themselves or colluded with institutions who had done so, with Vanderbilt being specifically accused of the former.
Vanderbilt denied all claims brought against it in the lawsuit. All 10 settling institutions expressed interest in focusing their efforts on furthering higher education while denying the lawsuit’s allegations, according to a Reuters report.
“Though we believe the plaintiffs’ claims are without merit,” the university said in a statement to The Hustler, “we have reached a settlement in order to maintain our commitment to the privacy of our students and families and keep our focus on providing talented scholars from all social, cultural and economic backgrounds one of the world’s best undergraduate educations.”
With the addition of the settlements proposed by Vanderbilt, Dartmouth, Rice and Northwestern, the total settlement amount of the suit will be $284 million. The offers were preliminarily approved by a judge on Feb. 28.
The remaining seven universities that have not yet settled include UPenn, Notre Dame, Johns Hopkins, Cornell, Georgetown, MIT and CalTech. In each successive settling group, the respective universities have settled at increasing sums, with Vanderbilt’s figure of $55 million being the highest settlement thus far. The remaining schools face pressure to settle earlier to avoid the higher payments that will likely be demanded later in the process.
Three Vanderbilt alumni are listed as plaintiffs in the suit. Michael Maerlender (B.A. ’19) said he did not have a comment at this time. Brittany Tatiana Weaver (B.A. ’07) and Cameron Williams (B.A. ’18) did not respond to The Hustler’s request for comment.
Earlier this month, Vanderbilt announced its plan to expand Opportunity Vanderbilt to provide full-tuition scholarships to students from households earning $150,000 or less annually. The university did not respond to The Hustler’s request for comment asking if this policy expansion was related to the lawsuit.
