Trump Says Harvard Near $500M Settlement to Operate Trade Schools

President Donald Trump announced Tuesday that his administration is close to finalizing a $500 million financial settlement with Harvard University, which would see the prestigious institution operate trade schools.

Speaking at the White House, Trump framed the deal as part of his broader crackdown on elite universities. “Well, we’re in the process of getting very close,” he said. “They’d be paying about $500 million and they’ll be operating trade schools. They’re going to be teaching people how to do AI and lots of other things, engines, lots of things. You know, it’s a big investment in trade school done by very smart people, and then their sins are forgiven.”

Harvard has not immediately commented on Trump’s remarks.

The administration has repeatedly accused Harvard and other top schools of harboring bias and anti-Semitism, particularly in response to pro-Palestinian protests — charges the institutions strongly deny. Harvard insists federal efforts are less about student safety and more about control over admissions, hiring, and curriculum.

Earlier this month, a Boston judge ordered the Trump administration to lift its freeze on $2.6 billion in federal funds to Harvard, ruling that officials had “used antisemitism as a smokescreen for a targeted, ideologically motivated assault on this country’s premier universities.”

Despite that decision, the Department of Education imposed new restrictions weeks later, requiring Harvard to fund student financial aid packages out of its own resources instead of relying on federal money.

The move echoes earlier actions against other Ivy League schools. In July, Columbia University agreed to pay $200 million and pledged to end the use of race in admissions and hiring. The University of Pennsylvania has also complied with Trump administration demands, recently announcing a ban on transgender women participating in women’s sports.

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