An amended complaint in the 568 Presidents Group lawsuit directly accused Yale of practicing need-conscious admissions, thus violating antitrust law in its collaboration with other schools to determine financial aid formulas.
On Jan. 9, five alumni sued the 568 Presidents Group — 17 elite universities who collaborate in devising financial aid formulas — on the grounds that they breached section 568 of the 1994 Improving America’s Schools Act, which states that such a collaboration can only exist if all members of the group do not consider financial need in their admissions process. In an earlier complaint, only nine members were alleged to consider student need in their admissions practices. The new complaint charges that all 17 schools, including Yale, factored family finances into the process through methods including the consideration of donor gifts and the examination of ability to pay during waitlist and transfer admissions.
Johns Hopkins University, which joined the Group in 2021, also was added in the updated suit.
