Trump Administration Cracks Down on Foreign Influence in U.S. Universities

The Trump administration has provided shocking new insight into just how much foreign money is flooding into American universities – and is taking long-overdue steps to curtail the influence of potentially hostile foreign entities.

According to new data from the Department of Education, an astonishing $72.1 billion in foreign capital has flowed into U.S. higher education institutions since 1986, when disclosures became mandatory. In 2025 alone, U.S. colleges and universities reported some 8,300 transactions from foreign entities worth $5.2 billion.

By far the top foreign contributor all-time is Qatar, coming in at $8.8 billion. Next is China, at $6.8 billion, followed by Germany ($4.9 billion), Saudi Arabia ($4.4 billion), and England ($4.3 billion). Last year, Qatar accounted for $1.1 billion in funding, while China accounted for $528 million.

The top all-time recipients of foreign money were some of the most prestigious institutions in the country. Harvard University has accepted $4.5 billion in foreign funding since 1986, while Cornell has accepted $4.2 billion. Carnegie Mellon University ($3.9 billion), Massachusetts Institute of Technology ($3.7 billion) and the University of Pennsylvania ($2.9 billion) round out the top five.

A total of $404.9 million was transferred to U.S. universities by several foreign entities sanctioned by the U.S. government. Among these was Russia’s Skolkovo Foundation, which has also made donations to the Clinton Foundation. Sanctioned Chinese institutions included the Beijing Institute of Technology (Zhuhai), Huawei Technologies Co., Sun Yat-sen University, and Ocean University of China. All of these entities have ties to the People’s Liberation Army (PLA).

This foreign money flowing into American colleges and universities is not just a financial issue, but a national security vulnerability. When foreign governments and state-linked entities pour millions into academic institutions, they gain leverage over research agendas, campus partnerships, and even the boundaries of acceptable debate, creating openings for propaganda, intellectual property theft, and subtle ideological influence.

Even more concerning is how opaque many of these arrangements can be. Without rigorous disclosure and enforcement, universities risk becoming conduits for foreign interests that do not share American values. In that light, unchecked foreign funding is a strategic foothold with long-term consequences for academic integrity and national sovereignty.

While U.S. higher education institutions have technically been required to report any foreign funding over $250,000 since Congress added Section 117 to the Higher Education Act in 1986, enforcement has long been severely lacking – until last April, when President Trump signed an executive order on “Transparency Regarding Foreign Influence at American Universities.”

That order affirms that accurate funding is a vital safeguard for American interests, emphasizing that “protecting American educational, cultural, and national security interests requires transparency” and declaring a clear policy “to end the secrecy surrounding foreign funds in American educational institutions.” It directs federal agencies to ensure “complete and timely disclosure” of foreign funding while working to “protect the marketplace of ideas from propaganda sponsored by foreign governments” and “safeguard America’s students and research from foreign exploitation.”

“The American people now have unprecedented visibility into the foreign dollars flowing into our colleges and universities – including funding from countries and entities that are involved in activities that threaten America’s national security,” U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said in a statement following the release of the updated data. “Under President Trump’s leadership, we remain firmly committed to ensuring that universities uphold their legal and ethical obligations to disclose the true origins of their foreign relationships.”

The Department of Education under McMahon has followed those words up with action. Since January 20, 2025, McMahon’s agency has initiated four new investigations under Section 117 into Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Michigan amid reports of inaccurate and untimely foreign source gift and contract disclosures.

During Trump’s first term, the Department of Education launched similar investigations into Georgetown, Texas A&M, Cornell, and Rutgers, among others, over similar violations of Section 117, uncovering billions in unreported foreign funds. But enforcement lapsed under the Biden administration, with the department effectively abandoning the prior investigations opened by the Trump administration.

According to a joint Congressional report from the Select Committee on Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and The Committee on Education and Workforce, China poses a particularly urgent threat when it comes to foreign funding. Through lucrative gifts and grants, Chinese entities with links to the CCP have gained alarming access to cutting-edge U.S. research with military applications.

Former PLA Colonel Xu Yazhou, who defected after the Tiananmen Massacre and converted to Christianity, told me in an interview that the Trump administration’s efforts to force transparency on higher education funding are the CCP’s worst nightmare. “A large portion of China’s military budget funds a hidden scholarship program to place PLA-trained operatives in U.S. universities,” he said. “Full disclosure of foreign funding will seriously undermine this program.”

Professor Abel Seelenfreund, a former history professor and Austrian diplomat in China during the early 1990s, also said that Trump’s transparency efforts in education might end up being one of his smartest moves from a national defense perspective. “America’s prolonged disinterest in auditing higher education funding had turned U.S. universities into shopping centers for adversaries to obtain research secrets and technology,” he explained.

What the Trump administration has exposed is deeply troubling, but it is also a necessary first step toward restoring accountability. After decades of neglect, simply forcing these financial relationships into the open marks a meaningful shift in how the United States defends its institutions from foreign influence. There is still significant work ahead in closing loopholes, strengthening enforcement, and ensuring compliance, but transparency is the foundation on which all of that depends.

Ben Solis is the pen name of an international affairs journalist, historian, and researcher.