The litigation began in July 2022, after Columbia math professor Michael Thaddeus published a report alleging that data underlying the school’s No. 2 ranking were inaccurate or misleading. Columbia’s ranking dropped to No. 18 that September.

In June 2023, Columbia said its undergraduate schools would stop participating in U.S. News’ rankings.

It said the rankings appeared to have “outsized influence” with prospective students, and “much is lost” in distilling education quality from a series of data points.

Some other universities, including Harvard and Yale, also stopped submitting data to U.S. News for various schools. U.S. News also ranks graduate schools.

Lawyers for the Columbia students plan to seek up to one-third of the settlement for legal fees, leaving about $6 million for the students.