Antitrust and Higher Education: What Hath Justice Wrought?

The MIT case signals a new era for higher education. Colleges and universities must now conduct their activities in compliance with the antitrust laws. The recent Amendments to the Higher Education Act offer a limited antitrust immunity for certain collective financial aid activities, but all other aspects of higher education are now subject to antitrust scrutiny. As a likely result, prudent college and university officials will adopt antitrust compliance programs to protect against inadvertent antitrust violations that could expose their institutions to private treble damage litigation, or worse.