Written by Mike Scarcella
(Reuters) – Dartmouth College, Northwestern University, Rice University and Vanderbilt University agree to pay a combined $166 million to resolve allegations that they gave preferential treatment to wealthy student applicants. The total amount settled in a federal antitrust lawsuit over the company's financial aid practices reached $284 million.
Lawyers for the proposed class of hundreds of thousands of current and former U.S. students unveiled the latest settlement in a filing late Friday in Chicago federal court.
A 2022 lawsuit said 17 prominent universities violated U.S. antitrust laws by giving favorable conditions to wealthy students and violating pledges not to consider students' finances in admissions decisions.
Dartmouth and Rice each said they would pay $33.75 million. Northwestern agreed to pay $43.5 million and Vanderbilt will pay $55 million.
Brown University, Yale University, and Columbia University previously agreed to pay a total of $62 million to resolve claims against them.
Schools, including those that have reached settlements, deny wrongdoing.
Northwestern University, Dartmouth College, Vanderbilt University and Rice University said in a statement that the settlement with the plaintiffs allows them to move past the lawsuit and focus on their academic missions.
The lawsuit continues against seven schools, including Cornell University, the University of Pennsylvania, and Georgetown University.
“These new settlements will significantly increase the amount of compensation to class members for the harms we allege have been caused by the defendant cartels,” plaintiffs' attorney Ted Normand said in a statement. Ta.
The average payout to class members is expected to be $750, according to court filings.
The settlement is subject to review and approval by a judge.
(Reporting by Mike Scarcella; Editing by David Bario and Cynthia Osterman)
