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Journal of Student Financial Aid

Journal of Student Financial Aid

Abstract

The Ivy League schools and others that have been investigated in the Department of justice's (DO]) probe of purported student financial aid price-fixing spent thousands of dollars responding to the DO]'s inquiries. Those institutions that were actually sued spent hundreds of thousands of dollars negotiating a settlement. The prudent college is now seeking ways to avoid such costs in the future, and to maximize the likelihood that it is complying with the antitrust laws. Nothing can be done to change past conduct, but schools can plan to monitor and, in certain instances, alter future conduct to avoid the pitfalls of the antitrust laws. A large part of that planning is the adoption of a realistic, understandable antitrust policy which should be followed by financial aid administrators. The focal point of this article is a model antitrust policy for a college or university directed toward financial aid, tuition, and faculty salaries. It does not purport to-and probably could not-cover every area where a school could run into antitrust difficulties. But as a guideline, this model policy provides a beginning for developing an antitrust policy for any educational institution. An antitrust policy cannot be effective unless school personnel are informed about it and adhere to it. Adoption of a policy is the first step; the second step is adoption of a means of ensuring compliance with the policy. This article focuses on the first step, an antitrust policy specifically directed to colleges and universities.

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