Lawsuit claims 16 top colleges overcharged over 170,000 students by ‘hundreds of millions of dollars’. Christopher Rim, CEO of college consulting firm Command Education says most schools consider financial need when making admissions decisions — including many (but not all) schools that claim to be “need-blind.” Dubbed 568 Presidents Group was formed by 28 college and university presidents in 1998, the same year consumer protections were removed from student loans by Congress. Elizabeth Tandy Shermer, associate professor of history at Loyola University Chicago and author of the book “Indentured Students,” says schools have historically used the same, or similar, criteria to determine financial need and avoid competing over which school will offer the more generous financial aid package. Read the full story.