House GOP Asks Ed. Dept. About Foreign Cash to Colleges

A House committee investigating colleges and universities for compliance with reporting foreign gifts and contracts is seeking information from Education Secretary Miguel Cardona.

The requests to Cardona were sent in a letter Wednesday from Education and the Workforce Committee Chairwoman Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., and 21 GOP members of the committee.

The Trump administration’s Office of General Counsel found nearly $6.5 billion in unreported money received by U.S. colleges and universities, and House Republicans are concerned since the Biden administration has not carried through on oversight of reporting requirements of Section 117 of the Higher Education Act.

The statute “requires nearly all colleges and universities to publicly report, twice a year, foreign gifts and contracts the value of which is $250,000 or greater, considered alone or in combination with other gifts and contracts, with a foreign source.”

The letter gives Cardona and his department two weeks to comply with requests for information.

The letter issued the following concerns:

1. The “largest, wealthiest, and most sophisticated” U.S. colleges and universities “have received nearly all foreign funds, receiving billions.”
2. “Institutional decision-making is generally divorced from any sense of obligation to U.S. taxpayers.”
3. Officials tied to these higher-education institutions “have solicited foreign sources – including foreign governments, corporations, and persons – through official fundraising operations, quasi-entrepreneurial activities by professors and administrators, and through captive or affiliated foundations and alumni organizations.”
4. The Trump OGC investigations have found “Section 117 reporting is systemically underinclusive and inaccurate.”

The letter seeks responses on fiscal years including 2021 and 2023 budget and spending on Section 117 activity, and the 2024 budget plan for compliance, reporting, and enforcement.

The letter also asks for a status report on Section 117 reporting, compliance, and enforcement for the following schools.

• Cornell University.
• State University of New Jersey.
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
• University of Maryland.
• Harvard University
• Yale University.
• Case Western Reserve University.
• Fordham University.
• Stanford University.
• Auburn University.
• Florida State University.
• Georgia State University.
• University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
• University of New Mexico.
• University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee