Foreign Funding and American Universities
President Trump and his administration are taking steps to address foreign funding for universities, which I think is a necessary move. For a long time, foreign influences have been at play in our higher education system, and it seems they’ve been doing so without much scrutiny.
A recent report from the Network Contagion Research Institute (NCRI) suggests that the amount of foreign funding U.S. universities have received in the last four years is equal to what they accumulated over 40 years. Between 2021 and 2024, universities took in about $29 billion from abroad.
During this period, the largest contributors were Germany, giving $3.3 billion, China at $2.3 billion, and Qatar at $2.0 billion. Harvard topped the list with $3.2 billion, while Cornell and Carnegie Mellon each received around $2.8 billion.
However, the real figure could be even higher. It seems that many educational institutions haven’t fully reported their foreign funds, which is surprising given federal laws that require them to disclose these contributions.
A report by the National Association of Scholars in September highlighted that at least $1 billion in foreign contributions went unreported by universities. The group speculated that some of these funds could originate from authoritarian regimes like Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Türkiye.
Back during Trump’s first term, it was noted that American universities were not transparent about roughly $6.5 billion in foreign funding. Alarmingly, a Senate investigation revealed that 70% of universities legally required to report foreign contributions failed to disclose funding from China, which is a significant breach of the law.
Section 117 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 mandates that educational institutions report gifts worth $250,000 or more from foreign sources. The rationale behind this is to limit foreign influence on American education and, hopefully, disclose these attempts to sway students.
The Education Department is currently investigating the connections between foreign entities and student groups. Reports have surfaced about scrutiny regarding faculty and students’ relationships with institutions like Birzeit University in the West Bank, which has been overshadowed by accusations linking it to Hamas.
Moreover, partnerships like the one Harvard had with Birzeit University were recently put on hold.
In recent years, China has invested significantly in U.S. colleges, establishing “Confucius Institutes” to promote Chinese culture. These initiatives have faced criticism for essentially spreading Chinese Communist Party propaganda among students. It’s concerning that many universities haven’t been transparent about the funding for these programs.
Due to this lack of transparency, the Trump administration has moved quickly to ensure universities comply with existing laws going forward.
In April, Trump enacted an executive order requiring universities to disclose foreign funding promptly. Institutions failing to comply risk losing federal grants. Interestingly, only about 300 out of approximately 6,000 U.S. colleges and universities report foreign funding each year.
The issue is indeed serious. A recent investigation into the University of Pennsylvania revealed that there were significant inaccuracies in their foreign funding reports, and similar investigations are ongoing at other institutions, including Harvard and UC Berkeley.
Citizens deserve to know when foreign interests try to influence our education system. It appears that the failure of universities to comply with reporting standards could lead to consequences for those institutions.
The Trump administration’s approach seems appropriate in holding universities accountable for their actions concerning foreign influence that has been lurking beneath the surface for years.
