Elite U.S. Universities Push Back on Trump Administration’s Funding “Compact”

TUSCON, AZ - October 21, 2025 The Donald Trump administration has proposed a sweeping policy, dubbed the Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education, offering preferential federal funding to a select group of U.S. universities in exchange for adherence to a set of ideological and operational conditions.

Sent in early October to nine institutions - including Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Brown University, University of Pennsylvania, University of Southern California, University of Virginia, Dartmouth College, University of Arizona, University of Texas at Austin and Vanderbilt University - the compact demands include measures such as banning race or sex considerations in admissions and hiring, capping international undergraduate enrollment at 15 percent, freezing tuition for five years, mandating standardized tests for all applicants, and reshaping departments deemed hostile to “conservative ideas.”

By mid-October, at least six of the nine universities had publicly rejected the deal, citing threats to academic freedom, institutional autonomy and merit-based research funding. Several higher-education associations issued joint statements warning the compact would undermine the “free marketplace of ideas” and blur government and university roles.

The administration, for its part, has denied that rejection automatically leads to loss of federal funding but continues to pressure institutions and has signalled broader expansion of the compact beyond the initial nine schools. The raw confrontation marks a turning point in U.S. higher education policy - raising sharp questions about whether federal funding may now hinge on ideological alignment and what that means for academic independence and global competitiveness.

*Sources: *https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/20/us/politics/universities-funding-compact.html