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BumRushDaShow

(167,377 posts)
Thu Feb 12, 2026, 06:09 AM 7 hrs ago

Trump admin reveals first-of-its-kind funding data in elite college crackdown

Source: msn/Axios

11h


The Trump administration is casting new scrutiny on foreign funding at U.S. colleges and universities — a push critics say is part of a broader effort to assert control over higher education under the guise of national security.

The big picture: The Department of Education is pointing to newly-revealed data on foreign gifts and contracts to schools as a national security issue, which is misleading, Alexander Cooley, a political scientist researching foreign authoritarian influence, tells Axios.

Driving the news: The Education Department on Wednesday released foreign funding disclosure data submitted by colleges and universities for 2025, "documenting over 8,300 transactions worth more than $5.2 billion in reportable foreign gifts and contracts."

  • More than half of that went to just four schools: Carnegie Mellon University, MIT, Stanford University and Harvard University.
  • The largest foreign sources of funding came from Qatar (over $1.1 billion), the United Kingdom (over $633 million), Switzerland (over $451 million), Japan (over $374 million), Germany (over $292 million), and Saudi Arabia (over $285 million), according to the department.
  • The data is now available for "public inspection" via an online portal.


  • Read more: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/trump-admin-reveals-first-of-its-kind-funding-data-in-elite-college-crackdown/ar-AA1WazVq
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    Trump admin reveals first-of-its-kind funding data in elite college crackdown (Original Post) BumRushDaShow 7 hrs ago OP
    The Trump Administration only approves of foreign funding and gifts that go to Donald Trump. tanyev 5 hrs ago #1
    So, how is foreign gifts to universities a 'national security' issue, but foreign corporations operating in the sinkingfeeling 4 hrs ago #2
    McMahon, in between attempts to kill her department, is too chicken to name the countries she claims muriel_volestrangler 2 hrs ago #3

    sinkingfeeling

    (57,505 posts)
    2. So, how is foreign gifts to universities a 'national security' issue, but foreign corporations operating in the
    Thu Feb 12, 2026, 08:36 AM
    4 hrs ago

    US aren't?

    muriel_volestrangler

    (105,869 posts)
    3. McMahon, in between attempts to kill her department, is too chicken to name the countries she claims
    Thu Feb 12, 2026, 11:26 AM
    2 hrs ago

    "are involved in activities that threaten America's national security". Those ones listed are, in theory, allies of the USA. The online portal allowing "public inspection" is blocked for me in the UK - ironically, by palantir.com, an entity that I really do think threatens the security of US citizens.

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