Cornell students and alumni who received need-based financial aid from the University between the fall of 2003 and Feb. 28, 2024, now have the opportunity to submit a claim to receive part of a $284 million settlement from a class action lawsuit.
The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois approved settlements for ten of seventeen universities named in Henry, et al. v. Brown University, et al., and a claims form became available on Friday, Sept. 13.
Cornell is one of seven universities that has not settled and remains a defendant in the case. Still, students considered to be in the “settlement class” at any of the universities can file a claim. Cornell students who attended the university between the fall of 2003 and Feb. 28, 2024, are included in this class.
“Assuming that about half of the estimated 200,000 Class members submit timely claims, the average claimant will receive about $2,000 from these Settlements,” wrote Financial Aid Antitrust Settlement in a Monday email to potential compensation claimants.
Plaintiffs in the lawsuit — filed in January of 2022 — claim elite universities colluded on financial aid decisions using an antitrust exemption within the Improving America’s Schools Act of 1994. The “568 exception” allows need-blind schools to collaborate on financial aid with other need-blind schools.
As a result, plaintiffs alleged that Brown University, the California Institute of Technology, the University of Chicago, Columbia University, Cornell University, Dartmouth College, Duke University, Emory University, Georgetown University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Northwestern University, Notre Dame, the University of Pennsylvania, Rice University, Vanderbilt University and Yale University participated in a price-fixing cartel that artificially boosted the net price of attendance for students receiving need-based financial aid.
Students and alumni can submit a claim online until Dec. 17.
Correction, Sept. 17, 3:33 p.m.: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that the settlement class included Cornell financial aid recipients from Fall 2003 to Sept. 13, when the accurate timeline is recipients from Fall 2003 to Feb. 28.