Justice Department starts probe of college early admissions practices
At issue are possible exchanges of info on prospective students.
The JusWASHINGTON — tice Department is probing whether colleges and universities are violating antitrust laws by exchanging information about prospective students who make early-decision commitments, the latest in a series of higher-education admissions policies that prosecutors are scrutinizing.
In a letter sent last week, the department asked several colleges and universi- ties to preserve all communication with officials at other schools that includes agree- ments to share or exchange the identities and admissions records of accepted students, and any records indicating actions taken or decisions made based on the information received about the applicants.
The “early decision” process allows prospective students to apply to a preferred college or university with the understanding that an accep- tance binds the applicant to attend. Early-decision applicants tend to have a better chance at admission to competitive schools, but those institutions have less incentive to offer financial aid, since the applicant has already agreed to accept an offer.
It is not clear how many schools received the letter, which was obtained by The New York Times, and officials at the Justice Department declined to comment on the scope of the investigation, first reported by Inside Higher Ed, a trade publication.
The Justice Department letter said the investigation focuses on “a potential agreement between colleges relating to their early decision prac- tices” and will be carried out by the agency’s Antitrust Division, which enforces laws governing fair consumer and competitive market practices. In the early 1990s, the division investigated Ivy League uni- versities for their use of “overlap meetings,” in which the eight colleges shared informa- tion to collaborate on finan- cial aid offers.
At least one institution, Amherst College in Massachusetts, confirmed that it was among the schools that received the recent letter. A spokeswoman said the col- lege “is fully cooperating with their request for information” but could not provide further comment.
In 2016, Amherst’s dean of admissions told U.S. News that the college and about 30 others shared lists of students admitted through early deci- sion and that she would also be open to sharing the names of students who chose not to attend and for what reasons.
Early-decision acceptances are not legally binding, but they do reflect a “moral con- tract” with students, secur- ing peace of mind in secur- ing a spot at their first-choice school in exchange for a commitment that they won’t shop around for other admissions packages.
Colleges will release stu- dents from their early-decision commitments if they face financial or familial hardship, but to breach the contract can be consequential.
College counselors say that depending on the institutions, the repercussions could range from schools’ canceling a stu- dent’s applications to rescind- ing admissions offers. A university could also retaliate against the student’s high school by limiting the number of stu- dents it admits.
“Once a student signs some- thing, they have you. And when a student pulls out of a decision, they lose so much control,” said Craig Meister, who founded the college admissions consulting firm Admissions Intel and serves as director of college coun- seling at Oxbridge Academy, a high school in Florida.
Terry Hartle, senior vice president of the American Council on Education, said the early-decision practice has been long-standing and without issue. He said the Justice Department’s inquiry was surprising.
The early-admission decisions have been criticized as potentially favoring alumni and higher-income applicants but had never been raised as a potential antitrust issue. The council’s position is that it is not.
“If you want the certainty of your first choice school, and you agree not to consider other offers, then it’s the right way to go,” Hartle said. “And about 98 percent of people use it exactly in that way.”
Hartle noted that students who apply to colleges through what is known as the com- mon application acknowledge that following an offer of admission, the institution they are applying to may share their commitment with other institutions.
Daniel Obregon, a spokesman for the common application — which more than 1 million students use to submit 4 million applications annually — said that fewer than 10 percent of applicants apply through early decision.
What may be in question is whether colleges, recognizing that they have little recourse, are using backdoor channels to find out whether students are holding up their end of the bargain.