A class action lawsuit filed over the summer alleges that Bowdoin, among other schools, has used its early decision admissions program to raise the cost of attendance. The lawsuit, filed on August 8 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, argues that early decision admissions allows elite colleges to violate antitrust laws by not competing for the same students.

The College is one of 32 schools, all of which have early decision admissions programs, named as defendants in the lawsuit. This group includes other NESCAC schools like Williams College and Wesleyan University, Ivy League institutions and a host of other elite colleges.

The suit was filed by four plaintiffs, including one student at Washington University in St. Louis, another at Vassar College and two recent Wesleyan graduates. The lawsuit also seeks class action certification on behalf of tuition-paying students who, within the last four years, were admitted to one of the named schools either through early decision while receiving financial aid or through any decision process without receiving financial aid.

The admissions programs of many colleges and universities across the country allow students to apply early decision to only one school. The lawsuit alleges that this violates federal antitrust law as the named schools have agreed not to compete for students who are admitted early decision at other institutions, which can contribute to rising prices.

“[T]he Defendant Schools have mutually agreed not to compete for students accepted through Early Decision, which both raises prices for tuition and other services and entrenches a system widely acknowledged to be unfair and harmful,” the lawsuit reads.

The lawsuit argues that this practice raises tuition for all students, including those on need-based financial aid, by enabling colleges to both raise the full tuition rate and decrease need-based financial aid packages.

“Early Decision permits colleges and universities to raise the full cost of attending the school by focusing on non-price-sensitive students who are able to pay full tuition and have indicated that they will not accept competing offers from other schools if they are admitted,” the lawsuit reads. “Second, schools offer less in need-based financial aid to applicants admitted under Early Decision because they know that no other school can compete by offering a more generous need-based aid package.”

The College offers both Early Decision I and Early Decision II admission programs. For the Class of 2029, the College received around 2,000 applications for both early decision rounds, of which around 14.8 percent were offered admission.

According to the webpage of the Office of Admissions, the same financial aid processes are used for all applicants, regardless of which application round they participate in.

“[Early Decision] admitted students who have demonstrated financial need will receive a financial aid package. The same need-based aid formula is used for all applicants, regardless of whether they are applying under Early or Regular Decision,” the website reads.

The complaint also lists Scoir, an admissions website that runs the Coalition Application, along with the Common Application and the Consortium on Financing Higher Education (COFHE), an organization that each defendant school is or has been a member of. The lawsuit alleges that the Common Application and Scoir facilitate this anticompetitive activity by only allowing students to apply early decision to one school, while it argues that COFHE helps schools share information.

“The Consortium’s data collection, research, and policy analysis focus on matters pertaining to access, affordability, and assessment, particularly as they relate to undergraduate education, admissions, financial aid, and the financing of higher education,” COFHE’s website reads.

According to the same site, the College is currently a member of COFHE.

In an email to the Orient, Senior Vice President for Communications and Public Affairs Martin Mbugua contested the lawsuit’s claims, writing that Bowdoin intends to defend its admissions program.

“We believe this lawsuit lacks merit and intend to vigorously defend the College’s admission practices. Bowdoin has always administered its early decision program independently and in a fair and transparent manner,” Mbugua wrote.