American colleges and universities have received close to $60 billion in foreign gifts and contracts over a decades-long span, according to a new watchdog report.
Americans for Public Trust, a right-leaning dark money watchdog, found the nearly $60 billion of foreign money has gone into hundreds of colleges and universities, with 10 elite schools raking in a third of the money, raising concerns about national security and a lack of compliance with disclosure laws.
“For far too long, a staggering amount of foreign money has flowed into our colleges and universities with little to no transparency or oversight. Much of these foreign funds can be traced back to countries that have well-established adversarial relationships with the United States or engage in direct or indirect malign activities against our country,” said Caitlin Sutherland, executive director of Americans for Public Trust.
The watchdog report is based on Education Department data going back several decades, government investigations, data from educational organizations, think tank reports, and other electronic sources. It comes at a time when colleges and universities are facing fresh scrutiny from the Trump administration for their left-wing programs and faculty, and the antisemitic and anti-Israel demonstrations that have broken out on campuses nationwide.
Harvard University received the most foreign funding at an estimated $3.2 billion, followed by Cornell University and Carnegie Mellon University at $2.8 billion each, the University of Pennsylvania at $2.5 billion, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology at $2.1 billion.
In 2024, the University of Cincinnati took in the most foreign cash at $237 million, and Cornell had the second highest total at $203 million. Harvard University took in $150 million and Stanford University received $125 million of foreign aid and gifts last year, the report says.
Americans for Public Trust identified significant amounts of foreign aid from U.S. adversaries and Middle Eastern nations. Last year, Qatar poured over $342 million into colleges and universities, while China spent another $176 million.
Saudi Arabia, an oil-rich, Muslim nation with longstanding ties to the U.S. despite its human rights record and alleged involvement in the 9/11 attacks, gave $175 million to colleges and universities last year. Another $81 million came in from Hong Kong, where the Chinese Communist Party has repressed civil liberties and taken complete control of the political system.
Colleges and Universities are required to report foreign gifts or contracts valued at $250,000 or more, but many institutions have either failed to comply with the law or dramatically underreported their totals, creating a lack of transparency around foreign funding of American institutions of higher education. Americans for Public Trust’s report recommends House legislation that would strengthen compliance requirements for foreign funding and prevent schools from entering contracts with U.S. adversaries.
U.S. campuses have become hotbeds for anti-Israel protests and have experienced a surge in antisemitic incidents since Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, and slaughtered over 1,200 civilians and abducted 251 hostages. Israel resumed its war in Gaza earlier this month after agreeing to a temporary cease-fire with the terrorist group to exchange 33 living and dead hostages for approximately 1,900 Palestinian prisoners.
The Trump administration stripped $400 million of grants from Columbia University earlier this month because of its radical anti-Israel encampment that drew national attention last year, and a broader campus climate of antisemitism. Columbia caved to the Trump administration’s demands to curtail left-wing campus agitators, offer merit-based admissions, and combat antisemitism on campus in order to restore the $400 million of federal funding.
Beyond that, the Education Department has launched civil rights investigations into numerous colleges and universities over antisemitic climates and left-wing diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.