500 signatures reached
To: US Justice Department
Break up the Ivy League cartel!
Since 1994, the US government has allowed 28 of the country’s most elite universities to operate as a state-sanctioned cartel by letting them collude on tuition prices. These schools claim this exception from the usual financial laws helps them make elite institutions more accessible for lower income applicants — but a new lawsuit shows the truth may be the exact opposite.
The DOJ must investigate elite universities’ discrimination against lower income students now!
Why is this important?
This special treatment for elite universities began when Congress passed a law allowing schools with “need-blind” admissions — meaning students’ ability to pay is not factored into their applications — to collaborate on the formulas used to determine the level of aid. In theory, this law was intended to prevent discrimination against college applicants on the basis of wealth.
But in practice, eliminating price competition among 28 of the wealthiest universities in the US may have enabled those schools to cut financial aid packages without fear of losing applicants to competing schools. The policy may have led to exclusion of low income applicants, and may be driving the skyrocketing tuition costs the US has seen over the past 30 years. Since 1990, public university tuition has nearly tripled — perhaps because other schools set tuition relative to elite colleges.
The DOJ must investigate the 28 member universities of the ‘568 Presidents’ Group’ for potential discrimination on the basis of income and for possibly overcharging students on financial aid hundreds of millions of dollars in total over the past 18 years!