I'm pretty sure this is mistaken information. The quoted statement is about admission rather than financial aid. The colleges used to confer about financial aid offers. Then, yes, they were told based on antitrust law that they couldn't do that anymore.
Now, with permission from Congress, they STILL confer to discuss general principles of how they administer financial aid, but I'm sure that the admission decisions are not made in collusion, and I'm even more sure that the college lawyers now don't let the financial aid offices talk about specific applicants before financial aid offers are made.
