Trump Wants Universities to Show Him the Money, or No Deal

Last edited Tue Aug 19, 2025, 06:54 PM - Edit history (1)

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/19/us/politics/trump-universities-financial-penalties.html

https://archive.ph/JexVQ

Trump Wants Universities to Show Him the Money, or No Deal
President Trump has personally stipulated that hefty financial penalties be part of agreements his administration is negotiating with the elite universities. Critics call it extortion.
By Michael C. Bender, Alan Blinder and Michael S. Schmidt
Aug. 19, 2025, 3:52 p.m. ET

In May, cabinet officials and West Wing aides brought President Trump a potential settlement with Columbia University. But instead of giving his sign-off, he issued a new demand.

The school needed to pay $200 million, Mr. Trump told his team. The university’s cost for a deal soared from zero dollars to nine figures in the course of a single meeting.

The sudden stipulation, described by six people familiar with the episode and which has not been previously reported, jarred university leaders. They had seen the fierce backlash that followed when major law firms struck deals with the White House and promised to pour resources into seemingly benign causes favored by Mr. Trump. And although negotiations were still unfolding, they had already spent weeks working through policy changes intended to meet the administration’s original dictates around addressing antisemitism on campus.

Still, eager to maintain $1.3 billion in annual federal grant funding, Columbia ultimately agreed to the price.

Critics have likened Mr. Trump’s methods to extortion. The White House has said that the goal of extracting money from universities is to enhance trade schools, apprenticeships and other “real world” training.

Now, a hefty payment appears to be a bedrock provision for any deal, including one with Harvard University, which the administration sees as its biggest prize, and which has billions in federal grants at stake. The emerging agreement with Harvard would see the school spend $500 million, owing to Mr. Trump’s demand that the university spend more than double what Columbia agreed to pay.

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