On Sept. 24, U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis dismissed a class action lawsuit accusing Brown, the College Board, and 39 other colleges and universities of increasing the cost of tuition for students with divorced or separated parents when determining financial aid awards.
Ellis found the plaintiffs’ claims to be “lacking in plausibility,” she wrote in the ruling. The lawsuit was filed in October of last year, The Herald previously reported. The lawsuit is among a series of recent claims accusing the University of antitrust violations in its admissions practices.
The original lawsuit centered on the College Scholarship Service Profile, a College Board financial aid form that requires applicants to provide both parents’ financial information, regardless of whether they both plan to financially support the student’s college education.
The suit argues that defendant schools used the CSS Profile as an “information-sharing program … (and) exchanged highly sensitive information with the other members of the conspiracy.”
This limited competition between schools who would have otherwise “competed in offering financial aid in order to enroll their top candidates.”
Ellis found that “nothing in (the) plaintiffs’ complaint suggests that the university defendants exchanged their own internal financial aid decision-making processes or guidelines or otherwise shared with the other university defendants the amount of financial aid they planned to offer a particular student.” She also noted that the plaintiffs did not allege that the schools shared the same formula for calculating financial aid packages.
While the University requires all prospective first-year students to complete the CSS Profile, “Brown makes all financial aid decisions, including those involving noncustodial parents, independently and in alignment with our own methodologies for determining financial need,” University Spokesperson Brian Clark wrote in an email to The Herald.
Brown is “pleased with the court’s decision,” Clark added.
The suit also claims that the use of information from the CSS Profile in determining aid awards leads to some students’ financial situation being inaccurately reflected in their financial aid packages.
The plaintiffs argued that the average cost of attendance for students with divorced parents was $6,200 more at the defendant schools than at schools where divorced students’ aid is calculated through a different system employed by other top colleges. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of two students allegedly impacted by the price increases.
While only the custodial parent must fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA, Brown requires students to provide information on their noncustodial parent’s “ability, not willingness, to contribute,” according to the Undergraduate Financial Aid website. If a parent decides to “discontinue their financial support for reasons other than ability to pay, Brown will not assume the parental responsibility for financial support of the student.”
But if students are not able to gain financial support from a noncustodial parent, despite “reasonable effort,” they can request an exception, the website states. Clark added that the University gives “full consideration” to these requests and “works directly with students to explore solutions, recognizing that each family’s situation is distinct.”
Kate Butts is a university news editor covering admissions & financial aid as well as the career and alumni beat. She previously was a senior staff writer covering University Hall. Outside of The Herald, she loves running, board games and Trader Joe's snacks.
