The lawsuit reveals how colleges really talk down to wealthy applicants

A lawsuit alleges Universities colluded Determining students’ financial aid packages provides a glimpse into the ways in which top schools evaluate privileged children differently from the rest of the applicant pool.

At Georgetown, a former president selected students for a special admissions list by referring to their parents’ donation histories, not their records, according to the lawsuit. At MIT, a board member asked the school to accept two applicants who were the children of a wealthy former co-worker, the lawsuit alleges. At Notre Dame, the registrar in charge of a private list of applicants wrote to others: “I sure hope next year’s rich people are raising a few smart kids!”, according to the suit.

The proposal was submitted Tuesday in illinois federal court, It is the latest salvo in a lawsuit that began in January 2022. The plaintiffs, former students, initially accused more than a dozen elite universities of price gouging. Twelve schools have since stabilized. The motion filed Tuesday seeks class-action status for the case against the five remaining schools: MIT, Notre Dame, the University of Pennsylvania, Georgetown and Cornell University.

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For families embroiled in the college application process who face greater odds of winning admission to elite schools, the records fuel suspicions that colleges have different standards for low-income children.

At Notre Dame, the university’s Corporate Risk and Compliance Committee said accepting so many children of major donors would pose a significant risk to the institution’s brand if it became public, according to the motion. In 2020, the school accepted 86 applicants who were connected to major donors, or about 4% of the incoming class. Within this group, 76% of those donors would have needed special attention to get in, the proposal said.

Speaking about the Class of 2016, Donald Bishop, then associate vice president for undergraduate enrollment, noted that the number of academic valedictorians dropped by 30 students at the same time the donor list was used.

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“We allowed their superior talent or potential talent to influence our choices more this year than last year,” Bishop said in a 2012 email filed in the lawsuit.

Spokespersons Georgetown, Notre Dame, and MIT She said the schools plan to fight the lawsuit in court and that her students have all earned their places. A Notre Dame spokesperson said the school is confident that “every student accepted to Notre Dame is fully qualified and prepared to succeed.”

It is a perilous time for elite universities, which have become targets of growing public frustration. President-elect Donald Trump has threatened to investigate the internal operations of universities and tax the endowments of elite schools.

Some of the anger directed toward the nation’s most prestigious schools comes from perceived hypocrisy.

Elite universities often present themselves as merit-based universities that recognize the best and the brightest. The proposal presented Tuesday, which draws from years of speeches at exclusive rallies, briefings and internal university reports, shows officials bowing to Financial pressures To accept wealthy students over the most qualified candidates.

Americans’ confidence in higher education has fallen 21 points since 2015

A finding in a separate court case over race-based preferences in college admissions revealed that Harvard had a “Z-list,” a route through which weaker, but wealthy or connected, applicants could gain admission.

In the past few years, many schools, including Amherst College, have done away with legacy admissions. Additionally, several states, including California, have banned the practice.

Inside the suit

Tuesday’s filing seeks class action certification and seeks $685 million in damages. If granted, that number would triple to more than $2 billion under US antitrust laws. Ten schools, including Dartmouth College, Northwestern University, and Rice University, settled for a total of $284 million, and two more settled for undisclosed amounts.

The lawsuit also includes testimony from Sarah Harberson, Penn’s associate dean of admissions from 1999 to 2008, who was removed from the case in October 2023. She said the school had a mark of “bona fide special interest” for students from Families that were big donors Or knows someone on the Board of Trustees.

These students are guaranteed admission.

If a school is over-enrolled, they will be protected, regardless of their academic record. “You had absolutely no authority as an admissions officer,” Harberson testified.

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A spokesman for Penn said he saw no merit in the lawsuit.

“The actual evidence in the case makes clear that Penn does not favor accepting students whose families have made or pledged donations to Penn, no matter the amount,” the spokesman said.

At Georgetown University, a former president selected students for inclusion in the annual President’s List after reviewing information about parents’ donating history and ability, but without reviewing the applicant’s transcript, teacher recommendations, or personal essays. He often wrote at the top of the list “Please confess” according to the movement.