A $50-million fund to settle colleges’ claims in a long-running lawsuit over the cost of removing asbestos-containing materials from their campuses may grow even larger.

A federal judge has scheduled a hearing for March 19 in the U.S. District Court in Charleston, S.C., to decide whether to approve a proposed $35.5-million settlement with United States Gypsum, a major producer of construction materials that contained asbestos. If the settlement is approved, the court will decide how much of the money will be put into the existing fund.

The settlement fund is the result of a class-action lawsuit filed 19 years ago against asbestos companies. The National Association of College and University Business Officers and the American Council on Education helped organize the group of colleges that filed Central Wesleyan College v. W.R. Grace & Co., et al.

More than 350 institutions filed claims for their share of the settlement fund last year, and a court-appointed steering committee for the class will meet in late March to recommend to the court how the fund should be distributed, according to the business-officers group.

“It has been very gratifying to have the colleges stand with us over the past two decades as we have overcome amazing hurdles … to assemble a sizable settlement fund,” said Edward J. Westbrook, a lawyer for the class, in a written statement.