Eight-point-seven billion. Four-hundred million. One-hundred-seventy-five million. These are just some examples of the money the federal government has withheld or is threatening to withhold from various colleges and universities, including the University of Pennsylvania, Columbia University and Harvard University. That $8.7 billion figure was announced earlier this week by the Trump administration, which said that it's reviewing federal grants and contracts awarded to Harvard because Harvard has not done enough to curb antisemitism on campus.Some educators say the administration's moves to cut funding at colleges and universities amounts to a war on higher education. But the loss of those funds will be felt far beyond the college campuses. For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.Email us at [email protected] more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
Chapter 1: What funding cuts are affecting universities under the Trump administration?
8.7 billion, 400 million, 175 million. These are just some examples of the money that the federal government has withheld or is threatening to withhold from various colleges and universities, including the University of Pennsylvania, Columbia University, and Harvard University.
Chapter 2: Why is Harvard under federal scrutiny for antisemitism issues?
That $8.7 billion figure was announced earlier this week by the Trump administration, which said that it's reviewing federal grants and contracts awarded to Harvard because Harvard has not done enough to curb anti-Semitism on campus. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon explained the bold actions on NewsNation last month.
This is not a question of free speech. This is a question of violence on campus. This is a question of students being afraid to go to class or to walk around campus. Jewish students who are just really being discriminated against.
But Yale philosophy professor Jason Stanley sees something else happening with these threats over money.
Chapter 3: How does Jason Stanley perceive the federal funding threats?
The federal government, this fascist regime, has figured out a way to target funds to universities. And what we're seeing are democratic institutions across the United States, including universities, capitulate to these demands.
Stanley believes that ultimatums tied to federal funding are such a threat to academic freedom that he's leaving Yale University and the United States altogether to teach American Studies at the University of Toronto.
Chapter 4: What actions has Jason Stanley taken in response to the funding threats?
You can't win a war unless you recognize it's a war. This way, they're going to pick us off one by one. And history is watching here. If universities want to fight antisemitism, they need to stand up and say, no, we are not threats to American Jews. You are threatening American Jews. What's happening is like what Stalin did in the Soviet Union, setting up large groups of people for popular rage.
Stanley is also the author of two books on fascism, and he says he sees that whole history as a cautionary tale here. It's played into his decision to leave.
My work over the last decade has been calling attention to the rise of fascism in the United States. And you can only write so much. At some point, you have to do something.
Consider this. Some educators say the administration's moves to cut funding at colleges and universities amount to a war on higher education. But the loss of those funds will be felt far beyond the college campuses. From NPR, I'm Elsa Chang.
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It's Consider This from NPR. The dollar amounts being scrutinized and withheld from colleges and universities represent decades of partnership between academia and the federal government. But that money is used for purposes that stretch far beyond the classrooms on college campuses.
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Chapter 5: How will funding cuts impact research and innovation at universities?
Earlier this week, Harvard's president, Alan Garber, said the administration's cuts would, quote, "...halt life-saving research and imperil important scientific research and innovation." For more insight on the areas of work these cuts could affect, I spoke with Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, the Vice Provost for Global Initiatives at the University of Pennsylvania.
He also served under the Obama administration, and we should also note he is the father of Gabriela Emanuel, who is with NPR's Science Desk.
Since 2000, which was the end of the Human Genome Project, there have been five major advances in biology, sort of platform advances. There's been CRISPR technology to change genes. There's been CAR T therapy for cancers. There's been gene therapy. There's mRNA vaccines. And now there's these GLP-1 anti-obesity, anti-diabetes drugs. All of them, all five of them,
were really born in labs in universities and medical schools, one in part with Denmark. American universities, all of that kind of novel breakthroughs that really help people.
Right. This money, it's not just for research. It's also for grants and loans to students. It also supports local economies, the community that lives around these universities. But let me ask you this, if I may push back a little. Harvard has the largest academic endowment in the world. Like in 2024, it was valued at more than $53 billion.
I imagine there are a lot of people out there who might be wondering, why do schools like that need so much money from the federal government to begin with?
So look, we have an endowment. And first of all, it's not an endowment. It's multiple little endowments, an endowment for this professorship or that research. Most of that money is focused on very specific areas that the donor wanted. That's the first thing.
The second thing is a large part of those endowments are used to support students whose families cannot afford to go to the university and don't are given full scholarships or partial scholarships. For example, every student at Penn whose family doesn't make $75,000 or more, right, is given a full scholarship that's worth $92,000, and that part of the endowment goes to support that.
Part of the endowment goes to support other research initiatives, whether... We're looking at new historical research, new scientific research, new research in economics. That's a large part of what the endowments do. And we can only use about 3% to 4% of the value that's accrued every year. So you might say, oh, it's $50 billion. But 3% of $50 billion is only $1.5 billion.
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