Trump Moves to Revoke Harvard’s Tax Exempt Status

President Donald Trump is citing Harvard University's failure to address antisemitism and other issues on campus as grounds to revoke its tax exempt status.

Last week he asked the IRS to revoke Harvard’s tax exempt status, and earlier this morning announced that he was moving forward with it.

According to Fox News:

On April 11, the Trump administration sent a letter to Harvard University President Dr. Alan Garber and Harvard Corporation Lead Member Penny Pritzker outlining the institution’s failures and a list of demands from the White House. In the letter, the administration accused Harvard of failing to uphold civil rights laws and to foster an "environment that produces intellectual creativity."

The Trump administration threatened to pull federal funding if Harvard did not reform governance and leadership, as well as its hiring and admissions practices by August 2025. The letter emphasized the need for Harvard to change its international admissions process to avoid admitting students who are "hostile" to American values or support terrorism or antisemitism.

Harvard charges $59,320 per student for tuition for the 2025-26. With room & board the total swells to over $86,000.  

The Harvard University endowment, valued at $53.2 billion in fiscal year 2024, making it the largest academic endowment in the world and in history. This is a sum equal to roughly $2.5 million per student enrolled in all graduate and undergraduate programs. As some have previously characterized it, Harvard in its current form is a hedge fund offering college education as a side hustle.