Three Pioneer Valley colleges – Amherst, Mount Holyoke and Smith – are among 32 higher education institutions named in a class-action lawsuit filed in Massachusetts federal court on Friday alleging that early admissions policy constitutes an anti-trust violation and exacerbates inequality among student admissions.
The lawsuit, filed by two students at Wesleyan University in Connecticut, a student at Vassar College in New York and a student at Washington University University in St. Louis, say the decision to continue early admissions policies by the colleges named contributes to an inflation in price students pay as well as to inequality by favoring wealthier students.
Because early admissions are not legally binding, the plaintiffs argue, the schools mutually agree not to compete for students, resulting in a conspiracy that keeps tuition prices high among schools and favoring students from wealthier backgrounds who can afford to pay.
“The schools lose their incentive to compete on price for students admitted through Early Decision, driving up overall ‘top line’ tuition levels and reducing both need-based and merit-based aid for Early Decision admittees,” the lawsuit states. “The result is that both Early Decision and non-Early Decision students pay higher prices than they would have paid absent the conspiracy at the center of the Early Decision scheme.”
The lawsuit notes that since the early 1990s, when early decision policies became more widespread, tuition prices have skyrocketed, far outpacing the cost of inflation.
Once accepted, students have little say in the financial package presented by the college, since they must accept the offer of admission and withdraw any other consideration. Students also cannot compare aid packages with other schools or use other offers of admission as leverage if they accept an early decision offer, the lawsuit states, and that the colleges portray early decision as legally binding when it is in fact not.
Amherst, Smith and Mount Holyoke colleges were among those named in the lawsuit. Other colleges included are Bowdoin College in Maine, Columbia University in New York City and Middlebury College in Vermont. Williams College and Wellesley College were the other two Massachusetts colleges named in the suit.
The lawsuit quotes the former dean of admission at Amherst College, Tom Parker, who stated in an interview in 2001 that “the whole early-decision thing is so preposterous, transparent, and demeaning to the profession that it is bound to go bust.”
“Though Dean Parker was right about Early Decision’s merits, he was wrong about
its staying power,” the lawsuit states. “Despite its ‘preposterous’ lack of justification, Amherst, like the other users of Early Decision, has continued to participate in the Early Decision Conspiracy, because it has benefited the participating colleges and universities at the expense of students and applicants.”
Also quoted in the lawsuit is a New York Times article from 2018 that states, “In 2016, Amherst’s dean of admissions told U.S. News that the college and about 30 others shared lists of students admitted through early decision, and that she would also be open to sharing the names of students who chose not to attend and for what reasons.”
Amherst College and Mt. Holyoke College declined to comment for this story. Smith College did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Alexander MacDougall can be reached at amacdougall@gazettenet.com.
