568 Group - History

History

In response to several prestigious colleges and universities holding "Overlap Meetings" to set similar tuition and financial aid levels, the Justice Department began an antitrust investigation in 1989 and in 1991 filed an Sherman Antitrust Act suit against 57 colleges and universities. While the Ivy League institutions settled, MIT contested the charges on the grounds that the practice was not anticompetitive because it prevented bidding wars over promising students from consuming funds for need-based scholarships and ensured the availability of aid for the greatest number of students. MIT ultimately prevailed when the Justice Department settled the case in 1994.

In 1994, Congress passed the Improving America's Schools Act. Section 568 of this Act that expands upon the issues in the MIT settlement. Section 568 states that is not unlawful under the anti-trust laws for two or more need-blind institutions to agree or attempt to agree:

  1. to award financial aid only on the basis of need;
  2. to use common principles of analysis for determining need;
  3. to use a common aid application form; and
  4. to engage in a one-time exchange of certain pre-award data of commonly admitted financial aid students.

The amendment specifically prohibits the sharing of any information on the amount or terms of any prospective, individual aid award and makes clear that the exemption does not apply to the awarding of federal financial aid.

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