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A federal judge approved a $284 million settlement by 10 of the 17 universities that were sued for alleged price fixing, although the University of Pennsylvania and six others still face legal action.
The class action lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Illinois in 2022, alleged that the schools were part of the 568 Presidents Group that behaved as a “cartel” conspiring to “fix prices” on financial aid and granting preferential admissions treatment for students of wealthy families and school contributors. This was a violation of federal antitrust laws, according to court papers.
U.S. District Judge Matthew Kennelly approved the settlement amounts July 20 for several institutions. Brown University will pay $19.5 million, the University of Chicago $13 million, Columbia University and Duke University $24 million each, Dartmouth College $33.75 million, Emory University and Yale University $18.5 million each, Northwestern University $43.5 million, Rice University $33.75 million and Vanderbilt University $55 million.
“Antitrust damage is pretty strong medicine,” said John Lopatka, a law professor at Pennsylvania State University and an antitrust scholar. “Each one of these schools is making a calculation about how much is it going to cost to litigate this case. What’s the potential loss they are facing and how much do they have to pay to get out of it.”
As part of the agreement, the universities did not admit to any wrongdoing. Some said they settled to avoid costly litigation.
In addition, Kennelly approved service awards of $20,000 to each of the named plaintiffs: Andre Corzo, Sia Henry, Alexander Leo-Guerra, Michael Maerlender, Brandon Piyevsky, Benjamin Shumate, Brittany Tatiana Weaver and Cameron Williams.
The judge also approved legal fees and expenses for the law firms representing them.
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