Dartmouth College, alongside Rice, Northwestern, and Vanderbilt universities, have agreed to pay a total of $166 million to settle a two-year-old lawsuit accusing them of colluding to limit financial aid for admitted students. This settlement is the latest in a series of settlements in a class-action lawsuit involving 17 elite schools, including most of the Ivy League institutions. The lawsuit, brought forward by eight former students in 2022, alleges that the schools used a shared methodology that reduced institutional financial aid for students from working and middle-class families.

The total settlement amount includes $33.8 million each from Dartmouth and Rice, $43.5 million from Northwestern, and $55 million from Vanderbilt. In total, ten universities have now settled, with Columbia and Yale contributing to a sum of $284 million.

The settlements, which are pending a judge's approval, will provide cash payments to the entire class of affected undergraduate students, estimated to be around 200,000 students impacted over the past 20 years. Ted Normand, a partner at Freedman Normand Friedland, representing the former students, highlighted that these new settlements will significantly increase compensation for the class members.

While all schools involved in the case have denied the allegations, many have chosen to settle to put the lawsuit behind them. Northwestern, Vanderbilt, and Rice have all maintained their innocence, with Rice explicitly stating that they never conspired to decrease aid for their students. Spokespeople from the universities emphasized their commitment to providing financial aid to students from various backgrounds.

The lawsuit contends that the schools named collaborated on financial aid guidelines through the 568 Presidents Group, which dissolved after the lawsuit was filed. The case is connected to a 1994 federal antitrust exemption and alleges that the methodology used by the universities inflated the net price of attendance for financial aid recipients over the years.

Seven defendants, including Georgetown and Johns Hopkins, have yet to settle, with plaintiff attorney Robert D. Gilbert urging them to rectify the alleged overcharges to their alumni and students from working-class and middle-class backgrounds.