It was always baffling to me that collusion on financial aid wasn't illegal (also note that it's not just the Ivies that are involved.)
I find this particularly interesting:
"But the 3rd Circuit’s 1993 rationale isn’t helpful to the Ivies today. Back then, the court rejected the government’s accusation that the schools’ cooperation on financial aid increased tuition for other students. But subsequent work has concluded that the government was probably right."
Over the past 30 years, universities have absolutely continued to raise tuition and fees beyond the rate of inflation. They have increased the size of university administrations and enhanced campus facilities and services to some extent, but the educational benefit isn't as clear, while student loan debt has ballooned.
Tuition at Yale (for example) was about $15K in 1993 (equivalent to around $31K today.) In 2023 Yale's tuition is more than $64K.
I'd like to hear Yale's explanation of how this is possibly sensible.