On Monday, Harvard University sued President Donald Trump’s administration to sues the $2.3 billion freeze on federal funds from the agency. The funding freeze has led to drop diversity, equity and inclusion programs in the US government’s efforts to crack down on student protesters and pressure universities.
On March 10, the U.S. Department of Education announced it had sent letters to 60 higher education institutions, warning of “enforcement action” if it failed to protect Jewish students on campus, as provided in Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. The letter also cited Education Secretary Linda McMahon. “U.S. universities and universities benefit from the enormous public investment funded by US taxpayers. That support is a privilege and conditional on strict compliance with the federal anti-discrimination laws.”
Shortly afterwards, the Trump administration began to freeze federal funding for some of the country’s top institutions, threatening research that universities say is important for medical and scientific advances.
In particular, the Trump administration has targeted institutions where students participated in the pro-Palestinian protests last year, claiming that student protesters spread anti-Semitism sentiment on campus.
The day after Harvard University filed the lawsuit, more than 200 American university leaders and representatives issued a joint statement denounced the Trump administration’s political interference. The statement was signed by the presidents and directors of top-tier laboratories in the country, including Princeton, Brown, Harvard, Columbia, Northwestern University and Pomona University.
So, what is happening in terms of federal funding on US campuses, can universities survive these cuts?
Why is Harvard suing the US government for fundraising?
On April 11, the U.S. Department of Education, Health and Human Services, and the General Services co-signed a letter claiming that “Harvard University has failed to meet both intellectual and civil rights conditions that justify federal investment in recent years.”
The letter makes a series of requests that include educational institutions end all positive actions in hiring teachers and student hospitalization, and altering admission standards to exclude international students to exclude “hostile to American values,” including “students who support terrorism and anti-nationalism.” This was a follow-up to another letter sent by the government on April 3rd, demanding that the university reform faculties it deems to fuel “anti-Semitic harassment.” These departments say that “we need to be reviewed and necessary changes to address bias, improve perspective diversity, and end ideological capture.”
In response, Harvard rejected the request, saying that while some are intended to target anti-Semitism, “the majority represent direct government regulations of Harvard’s “intellectual terms.”
Hours after Harvard rejected its request, the anti-Semitism Education Task Force issued a statement announcing $2.3 billion in federal funding for the university has been frozen.
Harvard President Alan Gerber, and Harvard University Fellows filed lawsuits (PDFs) in the U.S. District Court in Massachusetts against leaders from the U.S. Department of Education, Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of General Services, the Department of Defense, the Defense Science Foundation, and the Department of National Science and Space Administration.
In a statement issued Monday, Gerber wrote:
The lawsuit says that the federal government has launched a widespread attack on key funding partnerships. This will allow Harvard University and other American universities to carry out “valuable research” in the fields of space travel and artificial intelligence (AI).
The lawsuit also argues that a freeze on funding is illegal because it infringes on First Amendment rights that guarantee freedom of speech.
“The lawsuit includes government efforts to use federal funds withholding as leverage to gain control over academic decision-making at Harvard,” the lawsuit states.
A joint statement on Tuesday, co-signed by hundreds of American university leaders, stated, “We always seek effective and fair financial practices, but we must refuse the forced use of public research funds.”
How much money can Harvard and other universities lose?
The frozen federal funds for Harvard include $2.2 billion in grants and $60 million in the contract. But it costs more money. In March, the Trump administration announced that it would consider Harvard’s $9 billion in funding.
The administration also threatened to revoke Harvard’s tax-free status and ability to register international students. In a statement Monday, Gerber also wrote that the Trump administration has considered taking steps to freeze the additional $1 billion grants.
In February, the Trump administration frozen $400 million in funding for Columbia University. Columbia University emerged in 2024 as the epicenter of protests on its pro-Palestinian campus. The government cited what they called “they can’t protect Jewish students from anti-Semite harassment.”
On March 19, Trump frozen more than $175 million federal funds to his alma mater, the University of Pennsylvania, citing the allowance for transgender women to play sports.
How else are university funding targeted?
Some universities have reported receiving a “stop work” order, an instruction that suspends all work on a particular research project supported by public funds.
“U.S. universities receive two major sources of funding from the federal government. The first is financial aid for students flowing to thousands of universities. The second is research funding, focusing on around 200 universities.”
“The US government has relied on universities to carry out research that benefits the country since World War II, and universities have built infrastructure around it. During this period, the size of US research funding has been unparalleled worldwide,” Kelchen said.
Cornell University said it received more than 75 “stop work” orders from the U.S. Department of Defense, according to a statement released by Cornell’s Michael I Kotorikov and other university leaders on April 8.
The order sent to Cornell is related to “studying jet engines, propulsion systems, large information networks, robotics, superconductors, new materials for space and satellite communications, and cancer research.”
The statement did not specify the amount of federal funds received by projects subject to the suspension order. It also did not state why the government issued these orders.
Northwestern University has also received suspension work orders related to approximately 100 federal grants. University President Michael Sil and chairman of the Peter Barris Committee wrote a statement on April 17 in a statement on the Northwestern University website.
In early April, US media reported that the Trump administration had frozen separately with more than $1 billion in federal funds to Cornell University and more than $790 million in Northwestern University. The New York Times and CNN both claimed that unnamed White House officials confirmed the freeze on these funding. “This money has been frozen on several ongoing, reliable, and Title VI investigations,” officials were quoted by CNN.
However, both Cornell and Northwestern say they have not received notices of the freeze on these funding.
How much money does university have?
Many universities have substantial donation funds that can raise income each year to support research projects, scholarships and other expenses. A fund is a set of funds or assets donated to a university to ensure that the institution is financially maintained in the future. Charitable donations from alumni, other donors and businesses make up a large part of the donation.
Harvard’s contributions were worth approximately $53.2 billion in 2024. This is the biggest of any university. According to the Harvard University website, more than a third of research at Harvard University is funded directly by the university.
Columbia’s contribution was $14.8 billion for the fiscal year ended June 2024. Cornell’s contributions were approximately $10.7 billion for the fiscal year ending in June 2024. Northwestern University’s donation amounted to approximately $14.3 billion in 2024.
Some universities can rely on these donations if a federal funding freeze is in effect. “Universities typically spend around 5% of their contributions a year, providing funds to compensate for Harvard’s global fund loss,” Kelchen said.
However, donations are subject to restrictions. “Donation funds are heavily concentrated in dozens of universities, with about three-quarters of all donation funds being limited for specific purposes,” Kelchen said, explaining that such purposes include student scholarships in very specific fields.
At Harvard University, donors determine the programs, departments, and objectives where 70% of the annual donation distribution is spent. The Columbia website also states that annual spending on donations is compliant with the donor’s wishes.
The university has also declined to the value of its donations. In 2024, Harvard’s contributions fell $151 million after some donors derive funds from the university and funds for anti-Semitism concerns on university campuses, according to an October 2024 report by student-run newspaper Harvard Crimson.
How will universities respond to the threat to government funding?
Kelchen said some research universities might be able to accomplish that for several years without federal funding.
For example, in a statement on April 17, Northwestern University’s leadership wrote for now that the university will continue to fund research projects that will halt government labor orders. “This support is intended to maintain these projects until we have a better understanding of the funding situation.”
Most universities can’t afford this. Therefore, some people are responding to government requests.
For example, after receiving its own list of requests from the government on March 13th, Columbia, for example, accepted these requests on March 18th, and introduced a new policy on campus. These new policies require that protesting students present their university identification card if they are asked to do so. It also prohibits face masks that are intended to hide a person’s identity. However, for religious or medical reasons, face coverings are still permitted. Columbia also hired 36 security guards with special authority to arrest students, and the university continues to rely on New York police for additional security assistance.
Some universities are trying to seek other sources of funding, experts say.
“For years, universities have been trying to diversify funding sources, with two most likely sources increasing registrations. [to get more tuition dollars] We are trying to generate more donations,” Kelchen said.
“Some universities have the physical ability to increase enrollment, while others do not. And universities want a rush to donate to help them get through difficult times,” Kelchen said.
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