The Financial Aid Antitrust settlement claim form deadline will pass in just a few weeks away. The Court has approved the settlement in July 2024 final approval hearing, the class members should file the claim form to receive the compensation.
The $284 million financial aid antitrust settlement involves current or former students and 17 Universities or organizations for charging students who seek financial aid. As per the settlement, ten defendants will pay for the settlement fund to compensate plaintiffs.
Financial Aid Antitrust Settlement
The current and former financial aid recipients filed a class action lawsuit in 2022 against 17 Universities and colleges alleging the Universities or colleges have violated the antitrust laws as they tried to provide less financial aid.
The institutes or Universities involved in the class action are Dartmouth College, California Institute of Technology, Notre Dame University, Duke University, Cornell University, Chicago University, Johns Hopkins University, Georgetown University, Pennsylvania University, Northwestern University, Columbia University, Emory University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Vanderbilt University, William Marsh Rice University, and Yale University.
As the court approved the Financial aid antitrust class action settlement in July 2024, the claim form for the settlement was out in September 2024. The last date to file the $284 million financial aid antitrust settlement is 17 December 2024, so if you wish to file do it before the deadline.
What makes you eligible to submit the Financial Aid Antitrust Settlement?
As per the February preliminary approval order of the financial aid antitrust settlement, students who meet the following conditions will be eligible to claim the settlement:
- The US citizens or permanent residents who were or are enrolled in one of more defendant’s UG programs during the class period or received the need-based financial aid, or whose tuition fees, room, or other were not covered in any financial aid or merit-based scholarships or loans.
- The class period of the financial aid antitrust settlement is defined based on the defendants, such as:
- For Columbia, Duke, MIT, Yale, Chicago, Cornell, Georgetown, Pennsylvania, Notre Dame, Vanderbilt, Northwestern, and Rice, the class period from fall term 2003 to 28 February 2024.
- For Johns Hopkins class members, the class period is 2021 fall term to 28 Feb 2024.
- For CalTeach class members, the class period commences from the 2019 fall term to 28 Feb 2024.
- For Brown, Emory, and Dartmouth class members, the class period was noted from the 2004 fall term to 28 Feb 2024.
Exclusions:
- The former or current employees, trustees, directors, vice president, or other officials of the defendants are excluded from the settlement,
- The judge, judge staff, or the immediate family of the judge are excluded from the settlement.
- The class members who have been excluded from the settlement by submitting the form before 13 May 2024.
Financial Aid Antitrust Settlement Payout
The Financial aid antitrust settlement compensation will be used to compensate the valid claimants but before that, the settlement will be used to cover the following expenses:
- Cost of settlement notice or administration,
- Class representatives awarded for their service
- Attorney’s fee and cost around $94,666,666.7
The court has approved the above expenses, and the fund will be used to cover these expenses first, and the remaining fund will be utilized to compensate the class members who have filed the valid claim.
As per the settlement agreement, the money for each person is not estimated yet, it depends on the number of filed and valid claims and other factors. The payment will be made based on the following factors:
- Year the claimant paid to the defendants
- University or college they were enrolled in
- The average price of tuition, accommodation, and board
- Years attended the college or Universities
The administrator would determine the payout for each claimant based on these factors and calculate it, hence, it may vary from one class member to other class members. However, as per the reports, the financial aid antitrust claimants can expect a payment of up to $2000.
How to file the claim for Financial Aid Antitrust Settlement?
After the Court has approved the Financial Aid antitrust settlement, the class members who meet the eligibility conditions can file their claim through the following ways:
- Online: The fastest and most convenient way is online, you can visit the settlement website at https://financialaidantitrustsettlement.com/ and click the Submit Claim with your notice ID and confirmation code to complete the claim submission process to receive the compensation.
- Offline by post: You can download the claim form from the official website and send the filled claim form with relevant documents to the settlement administrator at the following address:
- Financial Aid Antitrust Settlement
- 1650 Arch Street, Suite 2210,
- Philadelphia, PA 19103
When can you expect to receive the Financial Aid Antitrust settlement payout?
As the financial aid antitrust class action settlement is approved in the Court, the class members with valid claims can expect the administrator to disburse the payment after the deadline. The administrator will need time to calculate the payout for each person based on the claim information, so you can expect the payment after 30 days.
The class members who will choose the electronic payment method to receive the compensation can expect it early as soon as the administrator starts the payment distribution, however, people with the physical check payment method can expect the payment at least 90 to 180 days.
Hence, the class members are advised to choose an online or electronic payment method, such as Venmo, Zelle, PayPal, or a virtual prepaid card.
The Financial Aid Antitrust settlement deadline is approaching fast, the eligible former or current students should file the claim quickly if they wish to receive the compensation.