Nearly $29 billion in foreign money given to U.S. universities from 2021 to 2024
report
April 27, 2025 by Jennifer Kabbany
Foreign donors have given nearly $29 billion to U.S. universities between 2021 to 2024, according to a new report by the Network Contagion Research Institute.
“Foreign donors have given as much to U.S. universities in the last four years as they did in the previous 40,” according to the report, shared exclusively with The Free Press, which noted Qatar and China are among the largest sources of funding.
“That $29 billion figure is more than double the total for the preceding four years, and accounts for half of the estimated $57.97 billion in foreign funding since 1986, when the federal government began tracking the data,” The Free Press reported.
NCRI’s co-founder Joel Finkelstein told the Press: “This isn’t just a financial issue—it’s a national security crisis. Hostile powers are buying influence on American campuses at an industrial scale.”
The report comes on the heels of an executive order from President Donald Trump last week that seeks to increase transparency over foreign funding to U.S. colleges and universities.
A fact sheet accompanying the order stated that “$60 billion in foreign gifts and contracts have been funneled into American colleges and universities over the past several decades.”
“Only about 300 of the approximately 6,000 U.S. institutions self-report foreign money each year,” the fact sheet states. “Undisclosed foreign funding raises serious concerns about potential foreign influence, national security risks, and compromised academic integrity.”
Trump’s executive order directs the Secretary of Education to work to require universities “more specifically disclose details about foreign funding, including the true source and purpose of the funds.”
The order also calls on the education secretary and attorney general to “hold accountable higher education institutions that fail to comply with the law concerning disclosure of foreign funding.”
“In furtherance of this directive, the Secretary shall work with the heads of other executive departments, agencies, and offices, where appropriate, to conduct audits and investigations as appropriate and where necessary to ensure compliance with the law concerning disclosure of foreign funding and shall seek enforcement through appropriate action by the Attorney General,” the order states.
MORE: Stanford took in $27 million+ from China since 2021
IMAGE CAPTION AND CREDIT: A pile of cash / Studio Vin, Shutterstock
