Columbia University has agreed to pay $9 million to resolve a class action claiming it fed false data to U.S. News & World Report to inflate its undergraduate ranking and charge higher tuition. The Columbia University U.S. News ranking settlement, filed in federal court in Manhattan on June 30, 2025, covers roughly 22,000 former undergraduates who attended Columbia College, Columbia Engineering, or the School of General Studies between the fall of 2016 and the spring of 2022.1The New York Times. Columbia University US News Ranking2CNN. Columbia US News Ranking Settlement Columbia is not admitting wrongdoing, though it stated it “deeply regrets deficiencies in prior reporting.”
Who Qualifies and How Much You Could Get
The settlement class is limited to former undergraduates of Columbia College, Columbia Engineering, or the School of General Studies who were enrolled between fall 2016 and spring 2022.3U.S. News & World Report. Columbia To Pay $9 Million To Settle Lawsuit Over US News College Ranking Graduate students are not included; claims from three graduate-student plaintiffs were dismissed earlier in the case for lack of standing, because the misreported figures concerned undergraduate data.4Bloomberg Law. Columbia Mostly Shakes Proposed Class Action Over US News Data
Eligible students may apply for a share of the fund. Plaintiffs’ lawyers intend to seek up to one-third of the $9 million in fees, which would leave roughly $6 million for distribution. If every eligible student files, the estimated per-person payout works out to about $273.2CNN. Columbia US News Ranking Settlement5Forbes. Columbia University Offers To Settle Rankings Lawsuit for $9 Million
Is the Settlement Final Yet
Not as of the most recent reporting. Plaintiffs filed a motion asking the court to grant final approval, but available records do not indicate a final ruling, an approval hearing date, or any objections.6Law360. In Re Columbia College Rankings Action Claim procedures and deadlines typically follow a judge’s approval order, so students in the class should watch for a formal notice before the payout process opens.
What Columbia Was Accused of Misreporting
The lawsuit grew out of a February 2022 analysis by Michael Thaddeus, a Columbia mathematics professor, who challenged the data the university had been submitting to U.S. News. Columbia was ranked No. 2 nationally at the time.7The Guardian. Columbia Whistleblower US News Rankings Michael Thaddeus
Thaddeus identified gaps between what Columbia reported and what its own records showed. The university had claimed 82.5% of undergraduate classes had fewer than 20 students; his estimate put the figure between 63% and 67%. Columbia reported 100% of its faculty held terminal degrees; he identified at least 66 Columbia College faculty who did not. The university told U.S. News that 96.5% of non-medical faculty were full-time, while federal data Columbia itself filed put the figure at 74.1%. Its reported 6-to-1 student-faculty ratio, in place since 2008, was closer to 11-to-1 by his calculation. He also argued the school had inflated per-student instructional spending by folding in a large share of its medical center’s $1.2 billion in annual patient-care costs.8Michael Thaddeus, Columbia University. An Investigation of the Ranking
By September 2022, Columbia formally acknowledged it had overreported the share of small classes and the number of faculty with terminal degrees.9Columbia University Office of the Provost. Statement on Common Data Set U.S. News dropped Columbia from No. 2 to No. 18 that same month.10Forbes. Columbia University Admits Submitting Inaccurate Data for US News Rankings
How the Case Reached a Settlement
Students filed the proposed class action against Columbia’s board of trustees on August 2, 2022, in the Southern District of New York, docketed as In re: Columbia College Rankings Action.11Columbia Spectator. Columbia To Pay $9 Million Settlement in US News Data Misrepresentation Lawsuit The theory: by submitting false data, Columbia inflated its prestige and charged tuition priced for a No. 2 school.
On March 26, 2024, Judge Paul G. Gardephe largely dismissed the case. He threw out the graduate-student claims for lack of standing and struck other claims as time-barred. One former undergraduate’s claim under New York’s General Business Law survived, and plaintiffs were given leave to amend.4Bloomberg Law. Columbia Mostly Shakes Proposed Class Action Over US News Data Rather than continue litigating, the parties reached the $9 million deal in June 2025. Columbia said it was settling to avoid “protracted and costly litigation.”5Forbes. Columbia University Offers To Settle Rankings Lawsuit for $9 Million
Where Columbia Stands With U.S. News Now
In June 2023, Columbia announced it would no longer participate in the U.S. News undergraduate rankings, citing the “outsized influence” of rankings on admissions and broader methodological concerns.12The New York Times. Columbia University US News Rankings13Forbes. Columbia University To Pull Out of US News Undergrad Rankings The university also committed to publishing a Common Data Set for the first time, a standardized disclosure it had previously declined to release.14Columbia Spectator. Columbia To Release Common Data Set for the First Time U.S. News continues to rank the school using publicly available federal data. In the 2026 edition, Columbia sits at No. 15.15Ivy Coach. Columbia Quits US News Ranking