News & Notes: 111 elite colleges illegally instruct applicants to fill out unnecessary financial aid forms

While dozens of elite colleges have recently been accused of illegally instructing potential applicants to fill out an unnecessary financial aid form, the University is the only Ivy League school not included on the list of offenders, according to The Huffington Post.

According to a letter sent out by Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) to Education Secretary Arne Duncan, 111 schools allegedly violated the Higher Education Act because they asked potential applicants to fill out the CSS/Financial Aid PROFILE even though only the Federal Application for Student Aid is necessary for the colleges to determine appropriate financial aid packages.

While 53 of the 111 accused colleges instructed applicants to submit the FAFSA and the PROFILE and simply failed to specify the utility of each form, the other 58 specifically told applicants that they had to fill out both to secure any financial aid.

Schools identified in Cumming’s letter include Duke University, Northwestern University, California Technical Institute of Technology, University of Chicago, Georgetown University and the other seven Ivy League schools.