NYU is one of 40 private U.S. colleges accused of conspiring to reduce financial aid for students with noncustodial parents in an Oct. 7 antitrust lawsuit. The suit claims “individuals” from the named universities organized efforts to require that schools consider the financial status of both parents, which enables them to underestimate students’ demonstrated need.
In the suit, Boston University student Maxwell Hansen and Cornell University alum Eileen Chang allege that the College Scholarship Service Profile, which evaluates applicants’ eligibility for aid, does not sufficiently consider “whether both parents do actually contribute” to financing a student’s college education. The College Board, which oversees the CSS Profile, is also named in the suit — alongside several high-ranking universities like Harvard University and Yale University.
“This lawsuit has no merit,” NYU spokesperson John Beckman said in a statement to WSN. “NYU intends to vigorously defend itself and its financial aid policies and procedures.”
The College Board informed students that they had to submit both parents’ financial information under all circumstances, and specifically “if a divorce court order was issued concerning college expenses.” The lawsuit claims that this requirement has “unlawfully caused” tuition at the listed schools to be around $6,200 higher than that of other universities that do not require noncustodial parents to share financial information when determining students’ aid.
While noncustodial parents of NYU students need to fill out the CSS Profile, their application can be waived “under some circumstances” — for instance, if one parent’s information is not accessible.
“We believe our antitrust attorneys have uncovered a major influence on the rising cost of higher education,” Steve Berman, an attorney representing the plaintiffs, said in a press release. “Those affected — mostly college applicants from divorced homes — could never have foreseen that this alleged scheme was in place, and students are left receiving less financial aid than they would in a fair market.”
NYU allocates a significant portion of its annual budget to financial aid as compared to some of its peer institutions, including Columbia University and Fordham University. This academic year, the university devoted an additional $17 million toward undergraduate financial aid — all of which will support the NYU Promise, an initiative that covers tuition in full for incoming students in households with incomes under $100,000 starting this semester.
Contact Mariapaula Gonzalez at [email protected].
