A lawsuit alleging universities colluded to determine students’ financial-aid packages provides a glimpse into the ways top schools assess children of privilege differently from the rest of the applicant pool.
At Georgetown University, a former president selected students for a special admission list by consulting their parents’ donation history, not their transcript, according to the suit. At Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a board member got the school to admit two applicants who were children of a wealthy former business colleague, the suit alleges. And at Notre Dame, an enrollment official in charge of a special applicant list wrote to others, “Sure hope the wealthy next year raise a few more smart kids!”, according to the suit.
The motion, filed Tuesday in Illinois federal court, is the latest salvo in a lawsuit that began in January 2022. The plaintiffs, former students, initially accused more than a dozen elite universities with price fixing. Twelve schools have since settled. The motion on Tuesday seeks class-action status for the case against the remaining five schools: MIT, Notre Dame, University of Pennsylvania, Georgetown and Cornell University.
For families embroiled in the college-application process and facing ever steeper odds to win entry to elite schools, the records feed suspicions that colleges have different standards for children of means.