Posted by: John Phoenix
Universities and colleges across the United States are on pace to spend a record amount of money on lobbying in 2025 as President Donald Trump works to reshape higher education through massive cuts in federal financial support.
The White House has been targeting institutions for their handling of issues like antisemitism, diversity policies and transgender inclusion, already cutting billions of dollars in funding to elite schools. In addition to cutting off grants for research funding, ending support for financial aid programs and threatening schools’ tax-exempt status, the administration has discussed the potential deportation of roughly 400,000 undocumented college students.
Under financial pressure from the Trump administration, some universities are changing their policies to comply with the president’s demands while ramping up their lobbying expenditures. In 2024, colleges and universities broke a record by spending $104.9 million on lobbying. In the first quarter of 2025, universities and colleges already spent $27.6 million.
The biggest increases, which often include hiring additional lobbyists, were made by some of the universities that have become prominent targets of the administration, such as Columbia University, Harvard University, Northwestern University and the University of California. https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/Amdl2/1/
Lobbying spending
- Columbia increased its spending from $120,000 in the first quarter of 2024 to $510,000 in the first quarter in 2025 (nearly matching the 2024 total of $590,000). Columbia became the face of campus protests in 2024, after a pro-Palestinian demonstration gained international attention. The university has complied with a list of demands from the federal government to reshape its policies around antisemitism on its campus, hoping to regain $400 million in canceled grants. Trump also said that the United States could “examine” the university’s status as a non-profit organization, which saves the university $182 million annually.
- George Washington University spent $160,000 in 2021 and 2022, and $170,000 in 2024. In the first quarter of 2025, the university spent $70,000. Since May 2024, the school has paid at least $240,000 to the firm Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman for lobbying on “Higher Education Issues,” including responding to congressional investigations into an alleged failure to protect Jewish students from antisemitism, according to The Washington Post.
- Harvard increased its first-quarter lobbying expenditures by 77 percent, from $130,000 in 2024 to $230,000 in 2025. The school spent $620,000 total in 2024. On May 13, the White House’s Joint Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism announced the termination of $450 million in grants to Harvard, on top of the $2.2 billion that had already been terminated. Harvard has sued the Trump administration to unlock the frozen funding. Trump has also threatened Harvard’s tax-exempt status. According to a Bloomberg analysis Harvard’s tax benefits totaled $465 million in 2023.
- New York University was among the 10 universities visited by the Federal Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism. The Department of Education also launched an investigation into NYU for “allegedly engaging in race-exclusionary practices.” NYU ramped up its lobbying spending from $150,000 in the first quarter of 2024 (on the way to $680,000) to $210,000 in Q1 of 2025. Several NYU alumni were tapped by the Trump administration to fill positions, the university announced. The university also hosts Trump’s youngest son, Barron. NYU recently withheld the diploma of a student who condemned Israel’s actions in Gaza during his graduation speech.
- Northwestern University dramatically increased its lobbying expenditures from $110,000 in the first quarter of 2024 to $607,000 in Q1 of 2025, more than halfway to matching its 2024 total of $1 million. The university faces $790 million in potential cuts over allegations of antisemitism. More than 100 Jewish faculty and staff at Northwestern publicly opposed the Trump administration’s threats.
- The University of California is under investigation by the Department of Education for “allegedly engaging in race-exclusionary practices in their graduate programs.” At both the university’s Berkely and Los Angeles campuses, pro-Palestinian protests were met by police arrests and violence in 2024. Four of the university’s campuses were on a list of schools that Secretary of Education Linda McMahon warned to take more action to protect Jewish students. The University of California has historically been one of the biggest spenders on federal lobbying — last year it spent over $2.2 million. In the first quarter of 2024 the university spent $760,000; in the first quarter of 2025 the total reached $930,000.
- The University of Michigan has spent $340,000 on lobbying expenditures in the first quarter of 2025, a $260,000 increase over both the previous quarter and the first quarter of 2024. Not even two weeks after the Department of Education revealed it would investigate the university for “race-exclusionary practices,” the school announced in March that it would end its DEI program. McMahon also warned the university that it must do more to protect its Jewish students.
- Cornell University, the target of a cut of as much as $1 billion following allegations of antisemitism and “engaging in race-exclusionary practices,” did not dramatically increase its spending in comparison to 2024: The university spent $230,000 in the first quarter of 2025, in comparison to $220,000 in the same period of 2024. In the final quarter of 2024, however, the university spent only $110,000.
- Yale University has so far avoided cuts by the Trump administration. The university was praised by the White House anti-semitism task force after clearing a protest against a visit by Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel’s security minister. Yale was previously sent a warning by the Department of Education that the university was “under investigation for Title VI violations relating to antisemitic harassment and discrimination.” The university is also under investigation for allegedly “engaging in race-exclusionary practices.” Yale has increased its lobby spending from $180,000 in the first quarter of 2024 to $250,000 in the first quarter of 2025.
- The Trump administration froze $175 million in funding for the University of Pennsylvania in response to its policies on transgender athletes’ participation in sports. The university increased its lobbying expenditures from $150,000 in the first quarter of 2024 to $250,000 in the first quarter of 2025.
New lobbyists
As the Trump administration is reshaping Washington, universities and schools are aligning with firms and lobbyists tied to Trump’s inner circle. Almost half of the registered lobbyists representing the education sector have previously held roles in government.
- The University of California, the University of Michigan and Columbia all hired BGR Government Affairs for the first time in 2025. The firm was co-founded by Haley Barbour, who was political director under President Ronald Reagan. One of the lobbyists for both universities, Dan Murphy, was part of Trump’s 2016 transition team. Joseph Lai, a lobbyist for the University of California, served as special assistant to the president for legislative affairs during the first Trump administration. More than 60 percent of lobbyists representing Columbia have worked in government.
- Both Harvard and the University of Michigan hired lobbyist Brian Ballard for the first time in 2025. His firm, Ballard Partners, has close ties to the White House, having previously employed Attorney General Pam Bondi and Chief of Staff Susie Wiles. The universities both hired additional lobbyists from the firm: Michael LaRosa, who was the spokesperson for Jill Biden, and Daniel McFaul, who worked in senior positions for members of the House of Representatives.
- Both Cornell and Northwestern hired lobbyist Jeff Miller from Miller Strategies, another firm with close ties to Trump, for the first time in 2025. The schools signed the firm in mid-March, and thus so far no expenses have been noted.
- Politico reported that some of the country’s top liberal arts colleges, such as Williams College and Pomona College, have started hiring lobbyists for the first time in their histories.
- Yale opened an office in Washington, D.C., citing expected discussions of higher education issues on Capitol Hill.
- The lobby firm Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck launched a higher education task force to advise universities on how to navigate the Trump administration. Clients include Yale University, DePaul University, Colorado State University and Washington University in St. Louis. Brownstein Hyatt had the highest earnings of any law firm last year, taking in $67.7 million.