A financial aid antitrust lawsuit filed against Northwestern and 39 other American universities was dismissed Thursday, with the judge citing a lack of both jurisdiction and proven collusion between the universities and College Board.
The lawsuit was filed in October 2024 by Maxwell Hansen and Eileen Chang, two former university students with non-custodial parents, meaning one of their parents did not reside in the same household as them. They alleged that the 40 universities collaborated with College Board to raise tuition costs for students like them by requiring non-custodial parents’ financials to be included in the CSS Profile.
The plaintiffs argued that many non-custodial parents do not financially contribute to their children’s education costs and therefore it should not be considered when allocating financial aid to students. Their filing stated that this inclusion substantially increased the plaintiffs’ and the case class members’ costs to attend university.
“Plaintiffs contend that absent this agreement, the University Defendants would have competed to offer better financial aid packages to students in an effort to enroll their top candidates,” according to the court document.
Dismissing the lawsuit, Sara Ellis, a U.S. District Judge in Illinois, agreed with Non-Illinois Defendant universities that the plaintiffs’ allegations fell short of proving that the non-Illinois universities fall under the jurisdiction of the Illinois court.
“Because Plaintiffs’ claims do not arise out of any of the Non-Illinois Defendants’ conduct directed at Illinois, the Court cannot exercise specific jurisdiction over them,” according to Section B of the case document.
The court dismissed the case without prejudice, meaning the plaintiffs can file an amended lawsuit.
Judge Ellis also dismissed the lawsuit on the grounds that the plaintiffs could not plausibly allege that the parallel conduct of the universities adopting the non-custodial parent policy reflected an agreement among the universities to fix financial aid prices.
“In summary, having reviewed the complaint and parties’ arguments as a whole, the Court
finds Plaintiffs’ allegations of an agreement conclusory and lacking in plausibility,” according to the case document.
The University and the legal representation for the plaintiffs did not respond for comment at the time of publication.
Email: c.labgold-carroll@dailynorthwestern.com
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