Dartmouth, Northwestern, Rice, and Vanderbilt Settle Financial Aid Lawsuit for $166 Million

The settlement, part of a broader case involving 17 elite universities, aims to resolve allegations of colluding to limit financial aid, affecting around 200,000 students.

• Four prestigious universities have agreed to pay a total of $166 million to settle a lawsuit alleging they colluded to limit financial aid for admitted students.
• The lawsuit, filed in 2022, accused the institutions of using a shared methodology to calculate financial need, disadvantaging students from working- and middle-class families.
• To date, ten of the 17 defendant schools have settled, bringing the total settlement amount to $284 million.
• The settlements are pending a judge's approval and are part of a class-action lawsuit that could impact around 200,000 students over the past 20 years.
• The remaining seven universities yet to settle include the University of Pennsylvania, Notre Dame, Georgetown, Cornell, Johns Hopkins, MIT, and Caltech.

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