A federal judge on Sept. 24 dismissed a class-action lawsuit against Georgetown University and 39 other elite colleges that accused them of manipulating the financial aid process.
In the case, originally filed in October 2024, a current student at Boston University and a graduate of Cornell University alleged the 40 universities colluded with the nonprofit admissions organization College Board to allocate less federal aid to students. The suit claimed the universities did so by requiring noncustodial parents’ income to be counted through the College Scholarship Service (CSS) profile, a form required for financial aid applications, even when noncustodial parents are not financial contributors to the applicant’s expenses.
Judge Sara Ellis of the Northern District of Illinois dismissed the case on the premise the petitioners did not present substantial evidence showing the universities were coordinating with one another. She argued schools instead had similar methodologies for calculating students’ financial aid.
Ellis said the plaintiffs’ inability to provide this evidence made their claims unsubstantiated and the case subject to dismissal.
“Having reviewed the complaint and parties’ arguments as a whole, the Court finds Plaintiffs’ allegations of an agreement conclusory and lacking in plausibility,” Ellis wrote in her response to the universities’ motion to dismiss. “For example, Plaintiffs talk about ‘concerted action’ and ‘collective effort’ without providing details to flesh out these conclusory descriptions.”
This suit was brought two years after a separate price-fixing suit was filed against Georgetown, alleging that the university’s admissions office colluded with several other universities as part of the “568 Presidents Group,” a consortium of several American universities that aimed to set similar tuition and financial aid levels, to use a shared financial aid methodology that reduced the amount of aid given to students.
In response to the previous lawsuit, a university spokesperson said the university’s involvement with the group was consistent with its efforts to ensure students from diverse economic backgrounds could attend Georgetown.
“We are proud to meet the financial need of every admitted undergraduate student through a combination of direct aid, grants, scholarships, school employment and educational loans,” the spokesperson wrote to The Hoya in December 2024.
Roan Bedoian (CAS ’28), the chair of the Georgetown University Student Association (GUSA)’s newly formed financial accessibility and equity committee, said the noncustodial parent calculation at the center of the lawsuit is one of the problems students applying for financial aid face.
“Students who have separated or divorced parents run into a lot of difficulties,” Bedoian told The Hoya. “I know people who, their parents are in the process of getting separated or divorced. One parent, maybe a step-parent, isn’t paying tuition, but their income is factored into that student’s total income when determining what their expected family contribution is.”
“And so then students in that position end up having to take out a large private loan,” she added.
The lawsuits reflect a broader concern among Georgetown students about financial aid.
Grey Ni (CAS ’29), who receives financial aid, said they have been questioning their financial ability to continue studying at Georgetown during their first month on campus.
“I’ve only been here for a month, but the entire month has been hinging on ‘is it worth it for me to stay here because I’m paying so much money?’” Ni told The Hoya. “It doesn’t make sense for me to stay here if the money isn’t worth it in the end.”
Ni said the inability of students to rely on financial aid makes attendance feel largely contingent each year.
“Financial aid is not stable,” Ni said. “You have to reapply every year, and you don’t really know how much they’re going to give you. So it’s not really fair, because so many students just don’t have the same opportunities as others who come from different backgrounds.”
Sara Holler (CAS ’28), who also receives financial aid, said she thinks the process seems ignorant of the nuances that affect families’ actual capacities to pay tuition.
“When filling out all the forms for financial aid, there’s just a lot of things that they just don’t account for,” Holler told The Hoya. “They think that you can just put all of your money into their institution without actually taking into account any of the nuance that people are experiencing and any of the things that they might have.”
Holler added that, broadly, universities have unrealistic expectations of how much families can contribute to college tuition.
“I think that oftentimes universities will think that it’s feasible for people to contribute a much, much higher portion of the overall income of the household to education, which is a huge hindrance on people’s ability to go to private universities.”
According to a 2017 study from The New York Times, 20.8% of the Georgetown student body come from the top 1% on the income scale, while 74% came from the top 20% and 13.5% from the bottom 60%. Georgetown’s annual tuition for first years, before housing, food and supplies, is $71,338, with approximately 50% of students receiving financial aid and 35% receiving aid from the university through grants or scholarships in 2024.
Bedoian said she started the committee to remedy student concerns, such as late or insufficient financial aid packages.
“Students were running into all kinds of difficulty with their financial aid packages, whether it be late packages, packages that were significantly reduced with no explanation, not being able to get in touch with their financial aid officer or with the office in general,” Bedoian told The Hoya.
“It became clear to me that when you think about financial needs on Georgetown’s campus and how great the wealth disparity is on this campus in particular, that in order to really substantially and comprehensively address these issues, there was going to need to be a dedicated student group and a dedicated space and dedicated thought within GUSA,” Bedoian added.
Bedoian said the lawsuit seems to reflect admissions inequities as college tuition in the United States continues to rise.
“It speaks to the issue of higher education in this country right now that a college degree could cost you tens, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars,” Bedoian said. “It’s just beyond reason, and then that the processes set up to supposedly aid are so labor-intensive, so complicated, and so inaccessible and inequitable to so many students who, were it not for the financial aid process, would be more than qualified and deserving of attending these schools.”