Federal Court Allows Antitrust Class Action Challenging Early Decision Practices To Proceed

Summary

In Miller, et al. v. Consortium on Financing Higher Education, et al., Judge Angel Kelley in the District of Massachusetts denied the motion to dismiss filed by 32 private colleges and universities against a Sherman Act Section 1 putative class action. The complaint alleges that the schools agreed not to compete for students that had been admitted through Early Decision at one of the other schools. The August 7, 2026, ruling allows the plaintiffs to proceed to discovery on their claim against the member schools that their purported Early Decision agreement is tantamount to an illegal restraint of trade.

The Upshot

• A federal court has allowed the putative antitrust class action—formerly known as D'Amico, et al. v. Consortium on Financing Higher Education, et al.—to proceed against 32 private colleges and universities, finding that the plaintiffs plausibly alleged a horizontal agreement among the schools not to compete for prospective students admitted through Early