Word: public
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...fuss over alleged university tuition- and price-fixing, many have asked since a broad U.S. Justice Department probe became public last August...
...that defense misses the point of the investigation. The most serious allegation, that the institutions practice collusion in fundamental business transactions that cost the public millions of dollars, has hardly been addressed...
UNTIL now, university managers have crafted the strongest defense for a tangential element of the Justice investigation. They say the practice--particularly among an "overlap" group of 23 elite Northeastern colleges that includes Harvard--of sharing applicants' financial aid data serves the public by preventing "unethical bidding wars" for top students...
...legal argument works like this: While the 1890 Sherman Anti-Trust Act prohibits private corporations from colluding to set prices or any other business arrangement in private, exceptions apply in cases that serve the public interest. Universities contend that by agreeing on fair financial aid awards among themselves, they deliver more aid to more deserving students...
...that's only one small part of the story. Whether the "bidding war" argument is valid or not, less compelling are arguments that the most expensive colleges in America should be allowed to set tuitions together, often before their financial information becomes public, as now appears to be the case...