Students Overpaid Elite Colleges $685 Million, 'Price-Fixing' Suit Says (msn.com)
- Reference: 0175812719
- News link: https://news.slashdot.org/story/25/01/01/141239/students-overpaid-elite-colleges-685-million-price-fixing-suit-says
- Source link: https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/students-overpaid-elite-colleges-685-million-price-fixing-suit-says/ar-AA1w0fEV
> Documents and testimony from officials at Georgetown University, the University of Notre Dame, the University of Pennsylvania, MIT and other elite schools suggest they [1]appeared to favor wealthy applicants despite their stated policy of accepting students without regard for their financial circumstances. That "need-blind" policy allowed the schools to collaborate on financial aid under federal law, but plaintiffs in the case say the colleges violated the statute by considering students' family income.
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> Every year, according to a motion filed in federal court Monday night, Georgetown's then-president would draw up a list of about 80 applicants based on a tracking list that often included information about their parents' wealth and past donations, but not the applicants' transcripts, teacher recommendations or personal essays. "Please Admit," was often written at the top of the list, the lawsuit contends -- and almost all of the applicants were. Former students accuse 17 elite schools, including most of the Ivy League, of colluding to limit the financial aid packages of working- and middle-class students. The claimed damages of $685 million, which were detailed in the court filing Monday night, would automatically triple to more than $2 billion under U.S. antitrust laws.
[1] https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/students-overpaid-elite-colleges-685-million-price-fixing-suit-says/ar-AA1w0fEV
Why ... (Score:1)
... should colleges ... OR federal financial aid folks (anybody who has dealt with FAFSA knows what I am talking about here) ... need to know about your family's finances at all?
Aren't you an adult when you go to college?
Re: (Score:2)
You can try to claim financial independence.
Some of the criteria are that you have your own income and you're not declared as a dependent on your parent's tax return.
Not many 18-year-olds qualify.
Don't make me gag (Score:2, Troll)
This suit will be laughed out of court. The system is designed to keep the masses stupider so that the power of the ultra-rich will not get threatened.
Re: (Score:3)
Education wouldn't automatically give knowledge though. If the ultra-rich can afford to excel in colleges without actually learning then we'd just end up with lot of ultra-rich people who are dumber than average person from masses because they were carried through education by money.
Re: (Score:2)
The ultra-rich (or at least rich enough to make endowment donations) are admitted as legacies, but once admitted, they have to work like everyone else. The profs aren't gonna grade them easier. They only do that for athletes.
Not overcharged at all (Score:3, Insightful)
You're buying a slice of access to a social network of the elites, not the education. You think rich people stay rich by wasting money?
They could get their kids excellent private tutoring by teams of PhDs, for less money, if they wanted to do so. They're spending this money because it's a proven sound investment in their kids' futures.
Re: (Score:2)
> You're buying a slice of access to a social network of the elites, not the education. You think rich people stay rich by wasting money?
> They could get their kids excellent private tutoring by teams of PhDs, for less money, if they wanted to do so. They're spending this money because it's a proven sound investment in their kids' futures.
Not just a slice of access, but the right to associate a specific set of letters with your name, like "Stanford", "Harvard", or "UC Berkeley" that will pay dividends for the rest of your professional career.
I'm fortunate to have had parents who urged me to seek out those letters, and who could pay for a non-trivial fraction of the cost (I paid the rest). That decision opened one door which led to the next and the next; doors that would not have been opened for me otherwise. And now, at this point in my ca
Re: (Score:2)
I don't bash higher education, but when I hear 'Ivy League' I do NOT hear 'better education'. Choose your subject, and there's almost certainly a state institution whose students beat your choice of Ivy League institution in generally accepted ratings.
What they have in spades in prestige and branding. It won't make you a better lawyer or engineer or whatever you want to be, but it will probably help you make more money at it.
So yes, I will slam them for the quality of their education, because it's blown a
Re: (Score:2)
As somebody with far lesser valued letters, I agree and commend you for recognizing this.
Now that I've trodden most of the way down the path and understand (somewhat anyway) how the system works, I'll be able to give to my children the knowledge, and hopefully the financial support that your parents gave you so they can have those letters.
I hope they reflect on it later in life the same way that you are here.
Peter Gregory was right... (Score:1)
better off foraging for nuts and berries than to pay into a system that provides dubious value.