Penn, Brown Universities Called by House on Price-Fixing

The University of Pennsylvania and Brown University were issued subpoenas by the House Judiciary Committee as part of its investigation into alleged tuition coordination among Ivy League universities, Politico reported on Tuesday.

The subpoenas request documents connected to the pricing practices for tuition at the universities, as well as communications among peer institutions.

The schools are accused of colluding with the nation's six other Ivy League universities in order to inflate tuition prices and maximize profits, Center Square reported.

The House Judiciary Committee also demanded documents connected to the communications of the universities concerning college rankings, according to Politico.

House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan and its antitrust subcommittee Chair Scott Fitzgerald wrote that the committee has jurisdiction to look into "whether existing civil and criminal penalties and current antitrust law enforcement efforts are sufficient to deter anticompetitive practices among higher education institutions."

The letter added that "the documents requested by the committee will inform the House's consideration of these legislative reforms."

The subpoenas came almost a month after the panel heard from higher education advocacy groups, as well as from a student from Brown University, questioning whether Ivy League universities tailor financial aid packages, cut back on student services and exclude middle-class students as a means to fund multimillion-dollar administrative benefits, Center Square reported.

Last week, the committee also issued a subpoena to Harvard as part of its probe into alleged tuition pricing collusion, stating that the university's cooperation with the request of lawmakers for information has been insufficient, according to Politico.

The Trump administration has been waging a battle against elite universities, in particular Harvard, on various fronts. On Monday, the administration announced that it found Harvard violated civil rights law in its treatment of Jewish and Israeli students.

• House Committee Subpoenas Harvard Over Tuition Costs
• US Finds Harvard Violated Students' Civil Rights