Trump reportedly intends to cancel all federal funds for Harvard

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FILE-People walk through a gate as they exit Harvard Yard on the campus of Harvard University campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on April 15, 2025. (Photo by JOSEPH PREZIOSO/AFP via Getty Images)

President Donald Trump reportedly is planning to cancel the U.S. government’s remaining federal contracts with Harvard University.

The contracts are worth roughly $100 million, according to a letter obtained by the New York Times, which will be distributed to federal agencies on Tuesday. The letter also calls for federal agencies to look for "alternative vendors" for future services. 

RELATED: White House moves to block foreign students from attending Harvard

According to the New York Times, the Trump administration has frozen about $3.2 billion in grants and contracts with Harvard since April and has also attempted to stop the school’s capacity to enroll international students. 

Harvard federal contract cancellations

Dig deeper:

The New York Times reported that the letter informs federal agencies to respond by June 6 with a list of federal contract cancellations. Contracts for services considered important would not be immediately canceled but would be moved to other vendors. 

Contracts with nine federal agencies would be impacted including a nearly $50,000 National Institutes of Health contract to probe the effects of coffee drinking and a $25,800 Homeland Security Department contract for senior executive training. 

RELATED: Harvard says no to Trump demands: What to know about $2B funding freeze

Citing the letter, the New York Times noted that some of the Harvard contracts being reviewed were possibly already set for "stop work" orders. 

An administration official who spoke to the New York Times on the condition of anonymity said the letter is expected to be delivered Tuesday morning to federal agencies.

Has Trump blocked funding from Harvard before?

The backstory:

In April, the Trump administration said it would freeze over $2.2 billion in grants and $60 million in contracts to Harvard University after the school rejected the administration’s demands to limit activism on campus. 

Trump's administration has withheld federal money to pressure academic institutions to comply with his political agenda and to influence campus policy.

The administration sent a letter to Harvard in April demanding broad government and leadership reforms at the university, and adjustments to its admissions policies. It also demanded the Harvard audit views of diversity on campus and stop recognizing some student clubs.

The federal government said nearly $9 billion in grants and contracts in total were on the line if Harvard did not comply.

Harvard President Alan Garber said on April 14 that the university would not bend to the government's demands, and the federal government froze billions in Harvard's federal funding.

President Donald Trump pledged a more aggressive approach against antisemitism on campus, accusing former President Joe Biden of not holding schools accountable. 

Trump's administration opened new investigations into colleges and detained and deported several foreign students with ties to pro-Palestinian protests.

The government's demands are listed below:

• A Harvard ban on face masks — an apparent target of pro-Palestinian campus protesters — and that the university stop recognizing or funding "any student group or club that endorses or promotes criminal activity, illegal violence, or illegal harassment."
• It also demanded that the school institute what it called "merit-based" admissions and hiring policies and conduct an audit of the study body, faculty, and leadership on their views about diversity.

The first university targeted by the Trump administration was Columbia, which ultimately accepted the government’s demands under the threat of billions of dollars in cuts. The administration has also paused federal funding for the University of Pennsylvania, Brown, Princeton, Cornell, and Northwestern.