The Middle Eastern nation of Qatar is the largest foreign funder of American colleges and universities, according to new data from the Department of Education. Qatar has gifted or entered into contracts with U.S. universities that total nearly $6.6 billion over several decades, according to the data released by the Department of Education at the end of 2025. The law requires American colleges and universities to report foreign gifts and contracts valued annually at $250,000 or more. Over 190 countries have entered into contracts with, or sent financial gifts to, 527 U.S. institutes of higher education, but Qatar outpaces them all. Jason Bedrick, a research fellow at The Heritage Foundation’s Center for Education Policy, argues Qatar’s financial investment in U.S. universities is part of the country’s “soft power strategy.”The aim is “to buy influence among America’s future elite, as well as to promote anti-American and anti-Jewish ideologies on college campuses, including stirring up the pro-Hamas encampments,” Bedrick said, calling for “more federal action to combat the influence of foreign adversaries in our universities.” Qatar has invested the most in Cornell University, Carnegie Mellon University, and Texas A&M University. Cornell University has received nearly $2.3 billion in funding from Qatar in the form of gifts and contracts. “There is a legitimate concern that foreign funding, including from Qatar, has influenced U.S. universities, particularly as to academics related to the Middle East,” William Jacobson, a professor at Cornell Law School, tells The Daily Signal. “What is needed everywhere, including at Cornell, is full transparency and a clear explanation as to how the funds are used and whether there are any written or unwritten conditions that might influence campus academics and culture,” Jacobson said. The university uses the funding to “operate a medical school in Qatar that has graduated nearly 600 students from 50 countries in the Middle East, Asia, and other regions around the globe,” a Cornell University spokesperson told The Daily Signal. “Budgeted funding for the medical school in Qatar has averaged approximately $156 million per year from 2012 to 2025, totaling $2.2 billion,” the spokesperson explained. “Virtually all funding remains in Qatar for Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar school operations.” Cornell is “proud to be the first U.S.-based university to offer our MD degree overseas to educate and train doctors and scientists in patient care, biomedical research, and improving quality of life,” the spokesperson said. Qatar has funded Carnegie Mellon University with $1 billion in the form of gifts and contracts, and Texas A&M University with over $992 million. Neither Carnegie Mellon University nor Texas A&M University responded to The Daily Signal’s request for comment. Universities that receive funding from Qatar experience “an impact on fomenting antisemitic discourse,” according to a study from the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy. When universities take money from Qatar, “we assume that it comes with the strings attached,” Benjamin Baird, director of Middle East Forum Action, tells The Daily Signal. He added that the Trump administration is taking “some positive steps” to create more transparency around the foreign funding to U.S. universities. He credited the administration with launching a reporting portal “that makes it easier for private groups and even government groups to monitor where all of these foreign donations are going and what countries they’re coming from.” After Qatar, the largest foreign funders of U.S. colleges and universities are Germany at $4.4 billion, England at $4.3 billion, China at $4.1 billion, and Canada at $4 billion. Screenshot China has provided New York University with over $363 million in funding in the form of gifts and contracts, Harvard University with over $321 million, and Stanford University has received just over $183 million. With reporting measures being enforced, the “Trump administration has prioritized protecting U.S. students and research from foreign exploitation,” according to Madison Marino Doan, a policy analyst at The Heritage Foundation’s Center for Education Policy. New efforts to enforce transparency are an “essential step given the significant influence foreign governments and entities can exert on American universities when such relationships go untracked,” Marino Doan said. The post Qatar Sent Billions to Top US Universities, According to Ed Department   appeared first on The Daily Signal.