The Department of Education’s newly launched transparency portal has shed light on a staggering influx of foreign money into American universities. Reportedly, billions have poured in from nations like Qatar and China, often to elite institutions at the center of recent controversies over campus radicalism and anti-Semitism.

As of early 2026, the portal at ForeignFundingHigherEd.gov has revealed over $62 billion in total disclosed foreign gifts and contracts to U.S. higher education institutions. Qatar stands on top with over $6.5 billion, followed closely by China at $4.1 billion and, when including Hong Kong, nearly $6 billion combined. Germany had donated approximately $4.4 billion, England $4.3 billion, with countries like Saudi Arabia, Canada, Japan, and France being in the billions as well.

Top recipients include Harvard University ($4.0B), Cornell University ($3.0B), Carnegie Mellon University ($2.9B), University of Pennsylvania ($2.7B), Massachusetts Institute of Technology ($2.6B), Stanford University ($2.1B), Johns Hopkins University ($1.6B), Yale University ($1.5B), Georgetown University ($1.3B), and Columbia University ($1.2B). Notably, some of these schools in recent years have faced severe scrutiny for allowing disruptive anti-Israel protests and reports of harassment against Jewish students.

The portal’s data highlighted a pattern: a surge in undisclosed or underreported funds during the Biden administration, which critics, including the Network Contagion Research Institute (NCRI), have described as opening the “floodgates” to potential foreign influence. Compared to prior periods, NCRI further noted that foreign donations doubled in the last four years, fueling what some experts have called a “national security crisis.” And as The Daily Wire reported, “The scale of the deception is massive. While the portal lists billions in disclosed funds, previous reports suggest that hundreds of universities have illegally withheld information on an estimated $13 billion in additional contributions.”

President Donald Trump, building on his first-term investigations that uncovered $6.5 billion “in previously undisclosed foreign funds,” signed an executive order (EO) last year in April entitled “Transparency Regarding Foreign Influence at American Universities.” It demanded full disclosure. The EO referred to Section 117 of the Higher Education Act of 1965, which “requires institutions of higher education to report significant sources of foreign funding” that exceed $250,000 annually. And yet, it continued, “because section 117 has not been robustly enforced, the true amounts, sources, and purposes of foreign money flowing to American campuses are unknown. From 2010 to 2016, according to one study, universities failed to disclose more than half of reportable foreign gifts. Even when foreign funding is reported, its true sources are often hidden.”

These revelations follow years of campus unrest, particularly after Hamas’s October 2023 terrorist attack on Israel, which killed over 1,200 people. Elite campuses nationwide erupted into anti-Semitic chaos — including the harassment of Jewish students, encampments that disrupted academic affairs, and the destruction of property. As such, the data has raised a crucial question: Could foreign money be fueling radical agendas?

Critics argue yes. House Select Committee on China Chairman John Moolenaar (R-Mich.), for example, warned that China’s contributions aim to “steal critical research, influence, and academic talent” for the Chinese Communist Party. And Qatar? The top donor has long harbored Hamas leadership and provided financial support to the terror group. And universities receiving Qatari funds include those where pro-Hamas sentiments have been vocal.

In the meantime, the Trump administration has acted decisively. Since January 2025, the Department of Education has opened or reopened investigations into Harvard, UPenn, Michigan, and UC Berkeley for inaccurate disclosures. Concerning the newly launched portal, Secretary of Education Linda McMahon emphasized in early December that its purpose is to serve as “a new state-of-the-art system for colleges and universities to more efficiently and securely report their foreign gifts and contracts as required under the law. After years of neglect by the Biden Administration, the new portal will assist our institutions of higher education in fulfilling their statutory responsibilities and enable us to protect our national security by facilitating improved compliance.”

According to the department’s press release, until now, the portal had “not been meaningfully updated since the first Trump Administration.” But as McMahon further emphasized, “America’s taxpayer funded colleges and universities have both a moral and legal obligation to be fully transparent with the U.S. government and the American people about their foreign financial relationships. We are grateful to the many stakeholders for their feedback in designing this portal and look forward to vigorously protecting our educational institutions from potentially harmful foreign influence.”

As the portal exposes the scale — $62 billion from nearly 200 countries to over 500 institutions with over 117,000 reports — lawmakers and experts have urged vigilance. “Follow the money,” they say. The administration agrees and seems intent on holding universities accountable.