By Yepoka Yeebo
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN — Some Manhattan preschools have been exchanging information before announcing yearly tuition hikes, raising questions about whether their conversations amount to price-fixing, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.
Four of 17 schools contacted admitted discussing planned tuition rates, but denied engaging in collusion, the Journal said. The four schools were identified as the 14th Street Y, the Blue School on the Lower East Side, the Philip Coltoff Center at Greenwich Village and the Park Preschool in TriBeCa.
"We talk about it. Sometimes one person will send out a survey," Ellen Offen, co-director at the Park Preschool, told the Journal.
Offen acknowledged that school directors in lower Manhattan regularly discuss tuition, and conceded that the practice has stirred allegations of collusion.
State and federal laws prohibit competitors from working together to decide on their prices. Officials with the State Attorney General's office declined comment.
The Park Preschool increased tuition by 5 percent this year, with fees ranging from $6,500 to $19,000.
