Syracuse University is among 40 schools accused of overcharging students with divorced parents

Syracuse University and two other colleges in central New York are among 40 private institutions named in an antitrust lawsuit alleging they overcharged students with divorced or separated parents.

The class action lawsuit, filed Monday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, alleges that schools withheld financial aid offers to students They require them to report the income of non-custodial parents. A noncustodial parent does not have custody of a child and does not live with the child most of the time.

The plaintiffs, a Boston University student and Cornell University graduate, are seeking millions in damages and a court order to stop the practice.

According to the lawsuit, the colleges' practices may have impacted at least 20,000 students, who would have received about $6,200 more than if they had attended colleges that did not meet those requirements. The plaintiffs They also allege that the defendants violated antitrust laws by reducing the amount of competitive financial aid packages offered by colleges. The defendants also include Cornell University and the University of Rochester.

“The financial burden of college cannot be overstated in today's world, and we believe our antitrust lawyers have uncovered a major impact on the rising costs of higher education,” said Steve Berman, managing partner and co-founder of Hagens Berman, who Law firm representing the university's plaintiffs said in a news release Tuesday. “Those affected – mostly college applicants from divorced parents – could never have predicted that this alleged system would exist and that students would receive less financial support than they would in a fair market.”

The lawsuit is also filed against the College Board, the nonprofit organization that administers Advanced Placement and SAT exams. Since 2006, the organization has pushed colleges to require students to report financial information about noncustodial parents, even if the parent is not obligated to pay their tuition, the plaintiffs allege.

Tuition fees at colleges, particularly at private institutions, have skyrocketed over the past decade, prompting criticism and other legal problems. In 2022, a similar antitrust lawsuit alleged that a group of private colleges, many of which were included in Monday's lawsuit, unfairly favored wealthy candidates in admissions.

SU's tuition has increased steadily in recent years, including a 3.9% increase this year. In 2023, the university increased the price by nearly 5%, the largest increase in six years. Students will pay more than $63,000 in tuition this year, not including room, board and other costs.

Cornell and the University of Rochester saw similar tuition increases. This year, Cornell increased its price by 4.9% to over $68,000. University of Rochester students will pay more than $65,000 this year, a 4.3% increase from last year.

One of the plaintiffs, Eileen Chang, attended Cornell University from 2017 to 2021. Chang's parents were required to provide both income information on her financial aid application, the lawsuit says, even though her noncustodial parent was unable to contribute to her tuition.

When Chang asked Cornell's financial aid office to remove her noncustodial parent from the application, she was told that noncustodial parents would still be required to pay tuition, the lawsuit says. As a result, Chang paid “artificially high prices” to attend Cornell, the plaintiffs say said in the suit.

The colleges' practices have also led to greater anxiety and stress among students about college costs, Berman said in a statement to syracuse.com.

“It's no surprise that the cost of attending college has skyrocketed, but we rarely discuss what that looks like for students,” Berman said. “The pressure of looming loan payments, possible default, impact on credit scores, and the stress of immediately finding employment to cover loan payment costs all contribute to an increasingly stressful environment for students, which in turn leads to poor academic performance.”

An SU spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Maggie Hicks works in education, including at the Syracuse City School District and Syracuse University. She can be reached at [email protected] or follow her on X @maggie_hickss.