Trump suggests 15% cap on foreign students at Harvard, says he wants Ivy ‘to be great again'
WASHINGTON — President Trump suggested Wednesday that Harvard halve its number of international students to make the prestigious university 'great again' — after halting billions in federal grants and trying to throttle the Ivy League institution's ability to enroll foreigners.
'I think they should have a cap of maybe around 15%, not 31%. We have people who want to go to Harvard and other schools, [but] they can't get in because we have foreign students there,' Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.
The administration last month froze $2.2 billion in federal funding to the elite university and last week paused its ability to enroll international students — after college leaders rebuffed administration demands to curtail antisemitic incidents and provide lists of foreign students for federal review.
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3 Graduating students hold Palestinian flags and chant as they walk out in protest over the 13 students who have been barred from graduating due to protest activities, during commencement in Harvard Yard, at Harvard University, in Cambridge, Mass., Thursday, May 23, 2024.
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3 New York Post cover for Wednesday, May 28, 2025
'Harvard is treating our country with great disrespect,' Trump added. 'I want Harvard to be great again.'
The president also floated rerouting federal funds to trade schools and away from the Cambridge institution, which says 27.2% of its student body in the 2024-2025 academic year was non-American.
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'They're taking $5 billion and I'd rather see that money go to trade schools. And by the way, they're totally antisemitic at Harvard, as you know, and some other colleges too, in all fairness to them, and it's been exposed, very exposed,' Trump said.
3 Demonstrators gather on Cambridge Common to protest Harvard's stance on the war in Gaza.
AFP via Getty Images
'Every time they fight, they lose another $250 million. Yesterday we found another $100 million. And they have, you know, they have a fund, an endowment, $52 billion, all right? They got a lot of that from the United States. And I think it's ridiculous.'
Trump added: 'Everyone's coming up to me saying, 'We love the idea of trade schools, with that kind of money … you can have the best trade schools anywhere in the world.'
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