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House and Senate Republicans believe that the Ivy League’s tuition and financial aid practices may violate federal antitrust laws, according to a letter sent to Brown on Tuesday and publicly released on Thursday requesting a slew of documents related to each school’s financial aid and pricing practices to be received within the next two weeks. Similar letters were sent to the other seven Ivy League colleges.
When asked by The Herald, University Spokesperson Brian Clark did not specify whether the University would produce the documents requested by the letter.
“Brown has and continues to make decisions on tuition and financial aid independently as part of our commitment to making sure that no student’s family socioeconomic circumstances prevent them from accessing the benefits of a Brown education,” Clark wrote. “We will detail this approach in our response to the committees’ request.”
This is the latest attack by the GOP on elite higher education institutions, following threats of funding cuts and a raised tax on endowments. Over the past year and a half, Congressional panels have been host to combative hearings with Ivy League presidents, some of whom subsequently resigned.
The letter requests the University provide an array of documents from 2019 to the present, including internal communications “between or among employees or representatives” of the University regarding tuition rates, legacy admissions, need-aware admissions, financial aid policies and early decision practices.
The requests also include turning over documents and communications “referring or relating to the Council of Ivy League Presidents’ Committee on Financial Aid and Committee on Admissions.”
In their letter, GOP legislators also requested that Brown provide documents and communications between employees or representatives of the University and employees or representatives of the College Board, the Common Application, U.S. News and World Report and the executive branch of the U.S. government.
The stated deadline for these documents is April 22.
The University did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The letter was signed by the Republican chairs of the House Judiciary Committee and Senate Judiciary Committee, among others.
“We are particularly concerned that Ivy League member institutions appear to collectively raise tuition prices while engaging in price discrimination by offering selective financial aid packages to maximize profit,” the letter reads, adding that Ivies create “an umbrella effect for all colleges and universities to justify higher tuition costs than they could otherwise charge in a competitive market.”
The lawmakers alleged that Ivy League institutions appear to be in violation of antitrust laws laid out in the Sherman Antitrust Act.
Following the letter’s release, U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) who is the chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said he was “launching a bicameral investigation” into “potential Ivy League collusion.”
“Are universities lining their pockets&violating antitrust laws at the expense of students/parents???” reads Grassley’s X post.
Brown settled a class-action lawsuit for $19.5 million in January 2024 which made similar claims of price-fixing and antitrust violations. The University maintains no wrongdoing.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
Sophia Wotman is a University news editor covering activism and affinity & identity. She is a junior from Long Island, New York concentrating in Political Science with a focus on women’s rights. She is a jazz trumpet player, and often performs on campus and around Providence.
Aniyah Nelson is a University News editor overseeing the undergraduate student life beat. She is a senior from Cleveland, Ohio concentrating in Political Science and Sociology. In her free time, she enjoys listening to music and watching bloopers from The Office.
