In December 1992, a group of higher education associations including the American Council on Education, the United Negro College Fund, the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities (AAU) filed briefs supporting MIT's position.

"We supported the idea of asking the court to look at the broader social context of the case," says Peter F. Smith, the AAU director of public affairs.

And since the settlement, members of the original overlap group have said they consider the agreement a victory.

In a statement released after the settlement, MIT President Charles M. Vest said the settlement will enable schools to spread out financial aid dollars over the maximum number of candidates.

"This decision enhances competition between colleges on the quality of education," Vest said. "It re-establishes the principle that colleges, in awarding their funds for scholarships, can follow the...principle that because funds are limited, financial aid in the forms of loans and grants are awarded to students who could not attend college without that financial assistance."

George Rupp, president of Columbia University, also released a statement in December which echoed Vest's comments.

"The settlement reached...by MIT and the Justice Department is a welcome though limited step forward," Rupp said. "By allowing cooperation among participating schools on financial aid policy, it will increase the number of students who will benefit from need-based aid, a highly desirable goal."

Just Not Enough

The new settlement, however, is probable not enough to allow the return of Overlap, according to the leaders of several Ivy League schools.

"From a practical point of view, very few institutions will find that they will be able to commit to this because they simply can't afford it economically," Rudenstine says. "It's possible that there would not be any group sharing information."

"It anything happens at all, it will be a much more restricted and much smaller group, which is unfortunate because what I was hoping for was an enlarged group of schools," he adds.

Provost Jerry R. Green says he disagrees with the premise behind the Justice Department's anti-trust action.

"[Overlap] made very limited resources go farther, and it made a Harvard education available to people to whom it would not have been available at all," he says. "I personally would like to see financial aid dollars go as far as possible."

Some students, however, may disagree with Green. Dean of Admissions William R. Fitzsimmons '67 says that the 10 percent increase in applicants to Harvard this year was caused by students applying to more schools than usual. One of the reasons, he says, could be that students think the current absence of overlap will force schools to offer more financial aid. (See related story, page 1.)

Other officials, however, say they agree with Green and Rudenstine that the agreement's guidelines will severely limit the number of schools who can and will join a new overlap group. And that means fewer schools will work together to provide financial aid to the largest number of students.