Many top US universities sued for overcharging

The University of Pennsylvania, Georgetown University, Notre Dame University... were sued for allegedly overcharging up to 685 million USD.

Inside the campus of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA - Photo: REUTERS

The Washington Post reported on December 17 that many top universities in the US were sued for allegedly overcharging up to $685 million by increasing tuition fees and reducing student aid programs.

According to the lawsuit, documents and testimony from officials at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Pennsylvania, Georgetown University, the University of Notre Dame and other prestigious universities show that these schools tend to favor wealthy applicants despite claiming to have a merit-based admissions policy.

The “means-blind” admissions policy allows schools to provide financial aid to students under federal law, but plaintiffs in the lawsuit say the schools violated that policy by considering students’ family income.

Former students accuse 17 prestigious schools, most of them top Ivy League universities, of colluding to limit financial aid packages for working-class and middle-class students.

The plaintiffs have sought $685 million in damages, detailed in a court filing late on December 16, and the amount would automatically triple to more than $2 billion under US antitrust law.

The universities have denied the allegations. They say they have spent hundreds of millions of dollars on financial aid, and some have recently significantly expanded scholarships for low- and middle-income students.

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/nhieu-truong-dai-hoc-hang-dau-cua-my-bi-kien-vi-lam-thu-20241218184609315.htm