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Harvard University is under investigation over allegations from the Trump administration that it excluded some students who are United States citizens from financial aid.
The Department of Justice announced on Monday that it will open a compliance review of the university to determine if Harvard's "China-based financial aid programs and practices exclude American-citizen students, in violation Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of national origin," read a statement.
"Schools cannot take federal dollars and then turn around and accept money from foreign sources to give financial aid that deliberately excludes American citizens — doing so is illegal, and we will stop it wherever we find it," said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon of the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division. The agency didn't specify which scholarship programs were under review, stating that it "has no reached any conclusions."
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The Civil Rights Division audited Harvard's disclosures, raising concerns about its compliance with Title VI's anti-discrimination requirements.
"Harvard appears to be accepting these funds and, in adherence to their restrictions, providing student financial aid to foreign students, presumably Chinese, based on their national origin — to the potential detriment of students of other national origins, including American citizens," said the DOJ.
Harvard spokesperson Jason Newton told The Hill that the university "follows the law for required reporting of donations and, consistent with our legal obligations under Title VI, does not unlawfully discriminate on the basis of race, ethnicity, or national origin in allocating financial aid."
U.S. law requires the universities to report gifts and contracts from foreign sources exceeding $250,000 in a year. Harvard has accepted $630 million from Chinese sources over several decades, according to federal disclosures.
The university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, has received a total of $4.5 billion in foreign funding. Harvard has been one of the top targets in the Trump administration's crackdown on higher education across the U.S., particularly in response to diversity, equity, and inclusion programming and the reaction to pro-Palestinian protests and alleged campus antisemitism.
In May, the Ivy League school called on a federal judge to dismiss the administration's lawsuit accusing the university of antisemitism by failing to protect Israeli and Jewish students. Harvard claimed that the administration's complaint relied on a "snapshot in time that does not exist today" and provided a list of steps the university has taken to address antisemitism.
In June 2025, Harvard sued the Trump administration after President Donald Trump barred it from enrolling new international students. The president claimed that U.S. students weren't getting into Harvard because foreign students were taking their spots.
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