The Trump administration is casting new scrutiny on foreign funding at U.S. colleges and universities — a push critics say is part of a broader effort to assert control over higher education under the guise of national security. The big picture: The Department of Education is pointing to newly-revealed data on foreign gifts and contracts to schools as a national security issue, which is misleading, Alexander Cooley, a political scientist researching foreign authoritarian influence, tells Axios. Driving the news: The Education Department on Wednesday released foreign funding disclosure data submitted by colleges and universities for 2025, "documenting over 8,300 transactions worth more than $5.2 billion in reportable foreign gifts and contracts."