By Nate Raymond

A flag hangs on campus at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S., September 4, 2025. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton/ File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights , opens new tab

BOSTON, Sept 19 (Reuters) – The Trump administration escalated its campaign against Harvard University on Friday by placing new restrictions on the Ivy League school’s ability to access federal funds for student aid, citing concerns about the “financial position” of the oldest and richest university in the United States.

The U.S. Department of Education said it had placed Harvard on “heightened cash monitoring” status, which means the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based university will need to use its own funds to disburse federal student aid before drawing down funds from the department.

It is also seeking to have Harvard post a letter of credit for $36 million to ensure its financial obligations are met.

The Education Department in a separate letter to Harvard warned that its Office of Civil Rights may take additional enforcement actions against it unless it provides more records for it to assess whether it is illegally considering race in its student admissions process.

Harvard did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Harvard, which has a $53 billion endowment, has never suggested it was on the verge of financial catastrophe.

But the university has in recent months conducted layoffs and cut spending after President Donald Trump’s administration launched a campaign to leverage federal funding to force change at it and other universities, which the president says are gripped by antisemitic and radical left ideologies.

Harvard in July said the combined impact of recent federal actions on its budget could approach $1 billion annually. It has sued over some of those actions, leading a judge this month to rule the administration had unlawfully terminated more than $2 billion in research grants awarded to Harvard.

The Trump administration has been pushing Harvard to settle with it. The president during a recent cabinet meeting said Harvard should pay “nothing less than $500 million” as it had “been very bad.”

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Nate Raymond reports on the federal judiciary and litigation. He can be reached at [email protected].

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