Lawsuit accuses 40 top colleges of inflating prices for students with divorced parents

An antitrust lawsuit filed this week accuses some of America’s wealthiest colleges and universities of overcharging students with divorced or separated parents.

The federal class action that landed Monday in Illinois district court says 40 private colleges – including Harvard University, Yale University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford University – conspired to keep prices high for students with “noncustodial parents.”

The schools require that students who want nonfederal financial aid use the CSS Profile, an application overseen by the College Board, which also administers the SAT and Advanced Placement courses nationwide.

Students must disclose the financial assets of their noncustodial parents in the application. In the lawsuit, a Boston University student and a former Cornell University student say this requirement from the College Board decreased the amount of financial aid available to them and other students.

Steve Berman, one of the lawyers representing the students, said in a statement that the attorneys had uncovered a " major factor " behind the rising cost of higher education.

“Those affected – mostly college applicants from divorced homes – could never have foreseen that this alleged scheme was in place, and students are left receiving less financial aid than they would in a fair market,” Berman said.

The case comes after an unrelated class action targeting many of the same schools over allegations of financial aid price-fixing yielded a $284 million settlement this year. Around the country, students who attended those institutions could be eligible to receive hundreds or thousands of dollars from that agreement.

In a statement Wednesday, the College Board said the organization is confident it will prevail in the new case.

John Beckman, a spokesperson for New York University, said in a statement that the lawsuit is meritless.

"NYU intends to vigorously defend itself and its financial aid policies and procedures," he said.

Cornell University, Northeastern University, Northwestern University, Columbia University, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Tufts University, MIT, Duke University, Brandeis University and Georgetown University declined to comment Wednesday on the litigation. Other schools did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Zachary Schermele is an education reporter at USA TODAY. You can reach him by email at zschermele@usatoday.com. Follow him on X at @ZachSchermele .

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Lawsuit accuses 40 top colleges of inflating prices for students with divorced parents