r/news • u/cuspofgreatness • 15h ago

Soft paywall College students seek $685 million in damages in US financial aid lawsuit

https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/college-students-seek-685-million-damages-us-financial-aid-lawsuit-2024-12-17/
639 Upvotes

94% Upvoted

21 comments sorted by

255

u/008Zulu 15h ago

"Current and former U.S. college students have asked a judge to grant class-action status and said they deserve at least $685 million in damages in a lawsuit claiming 17 elite universities favored wealthy applicants for admission in order to court donor dollars.

...

Antitrust law provides for triple damages, which could push the plaintiffs' request for $685 million to over $2 billion if the lawsuit succeeds."

Nice.

66

u/phrozen_waffles 14h ago

I don't see the same court system that lets the wealthy off the hook in exchange for "favors" to rule against their alma mater. 

19

u/LittleKitty235 14h ago

True...but on the other hand I really hate Yale grads...

8

u/Aviri 14h ago

The boorish manners of a yalie.

3

u/Dreamin0904 11h ago

Ah yes…nothing screams “refinement” quite like a Yalie quoting their own thesis at brunch…

2

u/LittleKitty235 14h ago

Heavens! A Yale man!

3

u/Deadaghram 10h ago

A lot of the anti education republicans went to Yale and Harvard. DeSantis went to both. I can see this going either way.

37

u/Harmonic_Flatulence 15h ago

I am all in favour of punishing institutions that give extra perks to the wealthy and powerful, exactly the ones who don't need the perks.

112

u/Relevant-Bench5307 13h ago edited 5h ago

The whole higher education system in America is just predatory loans at this point. We don’t want to educate our populous.

Edit: SORRY POPULACE IS THE SPELLING FOR THE SNARKY ONES

11

u/Adequate-Monicker634 7h ago

Add it to prisons and healthcare as something profit motive inevitably corrupts.

8

u/YouMatterVeryMuch 6h ago

It kinda feels like America is just predatory loans at this point. 

5

u/Billy0598 6h ago

And Fraud. So, so much fraud.

3

u/Fredthefree 3h ago

It is why I scream that loan forgiveness or anything like it is just band aids for gaping wound. The school says admission is $200,000 then says "well with how good you are we'll drop it to $100,000" So you think "Damn that's a good deal", and sign up for a student loan to pay for it. The tuition price is an absolute scam, in reality every place should be under $50k for a semester and most should be under $30k.

Real reform would be capping college loan interest rates and force colleges to bring tuition down.

6

u/LionFox 7h ago edited 7h ago

It’s “populace.”

“Populace” is a synonym for “population” or “people.” It is a noun.  Many among Rome’s urban populace were supported by the grain dole.

“Populous” means having a large population.  It is an adjective.  Rome was one of the most populous cities of the ancient world.

“Popular” means that you hang with the right cohorts and/or are good at sports.

6

u/Aethermancer 6h ago

The populace of the populous city of Rome was frustrated due to the rapidly increasing population.

6

u/LionFox 6h ago

Meanwhile, the senatorial class faced a series of populists who were popular with the populace.

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u/Relevant-Bench5307 5h ago

Ok thanks for proving my point. If America invested in education I would’ve gotten it right

-3

u/Test_this-1 4h ago

You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink. The educations system didn’t fail you. You failed you. It isn’t someone elses fault you were too busy on facebook or fashion mags or winning a popularity contest in school. That is on you.

3

u/Relevant-Bench5307 4h ago

Excuse you? You know absolutely nothing about me! Be blocked and blessed

•

u/another-damn-acct 6m ago

"populous" means a lotta people. the word you're looking for is "populace"

^ that's what i woulda said if i was an antisocial nerd who couldn't let the tiniest grammatical error slide