40 universities formed 'cartel' to make students with divorced parents pay more

https://www.inquirer.com/education/university-pennsylvania-villanova-lawsuit-divorced-parents-20241017.html

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The University of Pennsylvania and Villanova University are among 40 private schools accused in a federal lawsuit of participating in a price-fixing scheme against student with divorced parents.

The class-action lawsuit, filed Oct. 7 in the Northern District of Illinois by two college graduates with divorced parents, says that the private universities made students with divorced parents pay more by taking into account the income of both parents when determining institutional financial aid, even when only one parent had custody.

The lawsuit also names College Board, the nonprofit that administers college applications, as a participant in the alleged conspiracy to lower the amount of financial aid that universities offer students.

“We believe our antitrust attorneys have uncovered a major influence on the rising cost of higher education,” Steve Berman, cofounder of the Seattle-based law firm Hagens Berman, which filed the lawsuit, said in a statement.

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