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President Donald Trump has announced plans to possibly redirect $3 billion in federal grant funding from Harvard University to trade schools.
Some shit you should know before you read: If you’re unaware, Harvard and the Trump administration have been at each other’s necks over a months-long standoff fueled by demands from the Department of Education and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that Harvard overhaul its admissions practices, faculty hiring, and campus policies. The beef began when the administration’s Task Force to Combat Antisemitism demanded that Harvard submit detailed disciplinary records, protest activity documentation, and internal data on international students, as well as implement reforms curtailing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives and expanding federal oversight of hiring and admissions decisions. Harvard’s president rejected the demands, calling them “unlawful and unwarranted” and warning that compliance would compromise the university’s academic independence and violate constitutional protections. In response to Harvard’s refusal, the Trump administration retaliated by stripping the university of nearly $3 billion in federal research funding, triggering the first of two major lawsuits filed by Harvard in federal court. That lawsuit, still pending, argues that the administration’s actions amount to punitive retaliation against the university for exercising its First Amendment rights and resisting political interference.
What’s going on now: In a series of posts on his social media platform, Truth Social, Trump wrote: “I am considering taking Three Billion Dollars of Grant Money away from a very antisemitic Harvard, and giving it to TRADE SCHOOLS all across our land. What a great investment that would be for the USA, and so badly needed!!!” He followed up with another post warning, “We are still waiting for the Foreign Student Lists from Harvard so that we can determine, after a ridiculous expenditure of BILLIONS OF DOLLARS, how many radicalized lunatics, troublemakers all, should not be let back into our Country. Harvard is very slow in the presentation of these documents, and probably for good reason!”
The Trump administration has already frozen more than $2.2 billion in federal grant funding to Harvard, affecting multiple agencies including the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Department of Defense (DOD), and Department of Energy (DOE), which cited that the grants “no longer effectuate agency priorities.” Harvard officials have warned that the freeze has begun to impact critical research operations, and internal communications suggest that major cuts to ongoing projects and staff may be necessary if funding is not restored. The administration has also moved to block Harvard from enrolling international students, a directive temporarily halted by a federal judge on First Amendment grounds.
Despite these pressures, Harvard remains financially resilient due to its $53.2 billion endowment as of 2024—the largest of any university in the United States. According to a university financial report, Harvard drew $2.4 billion from its endowment in the 2024 fiscal year, covering approximately 37% of its $6.4 billion in operating expenses. However, administrators warn that even with such resources, sustained federal funding freezes could require difficult decisions about staffing, research commitments, and student programs.
Harvard President Alan Garber has characterized the administration’s actions as politically motivated retaliation, stating that “no government—regardless of which party is in power—should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, or which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue.”
