Harvard University leads US colleges in total foreign funding received

FIRST ON FOX: One Ivy League institution has taken more money from foreign countries, including China, than any other university in the country.

The US Department of Education has, for years, compiled a list of federally funded universities that have taken funding abroad. The Trump administration wants to overhaul the agency’s online reporting portal, and, in doing so, show that one institution, Harvard University, has received more foreign funding than any other college in the country.

Harvard teamed up with Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., because of its relations with China and other foreign countries because of the foreign money taken by the university. And the Senate Republican, who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee, wants Education Secretary Linda McMahon to open an investigation into Chinese investment in higher education.

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“I remain concerned that millions of additional transactions with authorized Chinese companies may have gone unreported,” Cotton wrote. “Therefore, I encourage further scrutiny of the financial relationship between American universities and Communist China.”

Harvard did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Cotton noted that since the site was relaunched in January, reporting data showed that federally funded universities had received more than $6.8 billion from “Communist China — including more than $300 million from sanctioned organizations.”

“Harvard, for example, has received more than $630 million from Chinese companies,” Cotton wrote. “This includes approximately $418,000 from organizations participating in foreign talent programs and approximately $420,000 from organizations allegedly supporting unauthorized military development.”

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More foreign money flows to Harvard than any other college on the Department of Education’s list, totaling nearly $4.5 billion for 7,089 endowments.

Of that, $634 million came from concerned countries.

Notably, China is not the only worrisome country that has sent money to Harvard. A country of concern is one that the federal government designates as engaging in conduct that harms US national security, foreign policy, or the safety of US citizens. Venezuela and Russia have both sent money to the university, with $3.3 million and more than $750,000, respectively, flowing to the Ivy League institution.

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Banners hang from Memorial Church on the campus of Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass., on May 27, 2025. (Sophie Park/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

China’s alleged influence doesn’t stop at Harvard, either.

At a glance, there are four Chinese organizations in the top five funders on the US watch list that have given a total of $119 million to universities across the country. That list includes Beijing Institute of Tech, Air China, Ltd., Huawei Technologies Co., and Ocean University of China.

The Department of Education late last year announced it would overhaul the site and blamed the Biden administration for ignoring the plan.

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“After years of neglect by the Biden Administration, the new portal will help our institutions of higher education fulfill their statutory responsibilities and enable us to protect our national security by improving compliance,” McMahon said in a statement at the time.

“Taxpayer-funded American colleges and universities have a moral and legal obligation to be fully transparent with the US government and the American people about their foreign financial relationships,” he continued.