Qatar Topped Foreign Funding for American Colleges in 2025

More than $5 billion were received by American colleges and universities in 2025, according to the U.S. Department of Education (DoED). The department’s data has also revealed that Qatar tops the list of foreign contributors of funds to U.S. colleges, leading some to question the motives behind this money.

Last week, Inside Higher Ed reported (February 12) on the recently released DoED report that shows details of foreign funding to American institutions of higher learning – colleges and universities – during February 28 and December 16 last year. Per this data, American colleges and universities received $5.2 billion from foreign sources in the form of gifts and contracts. One fifth of this total amount, i.e. $1.1 billion, came from Qatar alone. The next major foreign source of funds was the United Kingdom (UK) with $633 million, followed by China that gave $528 million to institutions of higher learning in America.

Of those on the receiving end, Carnegie Mellon University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) are the biggest beneficiaries of this money from abroad, each bagging nearly $1 billion followed by Stanford University and Harvard University that got over $775 million and over $324 million respectively.

It is important to specify that these numbers are only available for colleges and universities that received more than $250,000 in any year from any foreign sources. Those receiving less than this amount are not required to disclose their foreign funding. But what are the foreign donors getting from these American schools in exchange for this money? Conservatives have raised questions repeatedly over such funding. The big amounts of money coming from Qatar have particularly drawn the attention of some prominent conservatives.

Just last month, Republican Senator Ted Cruz of Texas questioned Qatar’s continued funding of American schools, wondering what this Middle Eastern country was buying in the U.S. with all this money. Cruz was commenting on a post by American-Israeli commentator Eyal Yakoby showing DoED’s data of cumulative foreign funding to American universities ranked by the largest amounts of money. Qatar is at the top of the list with $6.6 billion followed by Germany, England, and China each with more than $4 billion. Canada stands at $4 billion while Saudi Arabia and Switzerland are next with $3.9 billion and $3.4 billion respectively.

Israel-based media personality Eitan Fischberger posted some details of Qatar’s funding of American schools and hinted that “Qatar radicalizes students in Northwestern’s Illinois campus.” He also suggested that foreign funding to elementary schools in America also needs to be tracked.

The biggest concern that Americans, particularly conservatives, have with respect to Qatar’s funding is the Middle Eastern country’s ties to Hamas. Conservative media and commentators have discussed the antisemitism seen at American colleges and universities over the last two years at least and some reports have linked it to Qatar’s funding of these schools.

For the American government, and the current Trump administration in particular, these concerns remain a headache because Qatar is a close political ally of the United States. It has repeatedly hosted talks between Islamic terrorist organizations and representatives of the American government. Last year, a $400 million luxury jet gifted by Qatar to the Trump administration raised eyebrows from both sides of the political divide including Trump’s die-hard followers on the right.

Trump’s Education Secretary Linda McMahon has called the recent data showing foreign funding details for American colleges and universities an example of “unprecedented visibility” made possible by the current administration. But people still need to see beyond the amount of money received by these institutions. The undisclosed terms of the contracts and gifts need to be brought to the surface to complete this picture for the American public.