Congress Moves to Spotlight Foreign Money on American College Campuses

Hostile foreign governments want to hijack the American higher education system. Congress wants to expose them.

With that goal in mind, on February 12, the House Education and Workforce Committee passed the Defending Education Transparency and Ending Rogue Regimes Engaging in Nefarious Transactions (“Deterrent”) Act. The bill would enhance foreign funding disclosure requirements for American colleges and universities. Lawmakers first introduced the Deterrent Act in October 2023, and the House of Representatives passed the bill with bipartisan support by a vote of 246-170 during the previous Congress. However, the bill never made it to the Senate floor.

Rep. Michael Baumgartner (R-WA), one of the bill’s co-sponsors, notes that by pumping cash into campuses across the country, American adversaries are able to “stifle academic freedom,” spread propaganda, and gain access to valuable intellectual property. China pursues this strategy aggressively. “The current system has allowed foreign adversaries to infiltrate our colleges and universities,” explained Rep. Tim Walberg (R-MI), chairman of the House Education and Workforce Committee. “Congress is taking action because it is imperative that we hold these universities — which have turned a blind eye for too long — accountable and bring to light malignant foreign entities lurking in our schools.”

Increasing Transparency by Lowering the Reporting Threshold

The Higher Education Act of 1965 requires colleges and universities to disclose foreign gifts and contracts over $250,000. However, institutions that accept millions of dollars annually from anti-Western and hostile countries routinely fail to comply. In 2019, the Department of Education opened investigations into a dozen top-ranking universities, uncovering $6.5 billion of undisclosed foreign funds, including from China, Russia, and Qatar. 

The Deterrent Act lowers the reporting threshold from $250,000 to $50,000, and slashes the threshold to $0 for “countries and entities of concern.” The zero-dollar threshold applies to China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea, as well as to any other country determined by the U.S. government “to be engaged in conduct that is detrimental to the national security or foreign policy of the United States.”

Additionally, the Deterrent Act enhances transparency by requiring private institutions to submit endowment investment reports and directing schools to disclose foreign gifts and contracts to individual researchers. The bill also simplifies reporting mechanics, making it easier for colleges and universities to comply. These reports would be made public to further safeguard the integrity of institutions of higher learning.

Consequences for Schools That Remain Noncompliant

Previously, foreign funding disclosure requirements suffered from weak enforcement. The Deterrent Act changes that. The bill requires the attorney general “to conduct investigations of possible violations” and bring “civil action” against institutions that have “knowingly or willfully failed to comply” with their reporting obligations. The Deterrent Act also imposes fines on institutions that remain noncompliant, including first-time offenders. Repeat offenders risk losing their ability to participate in Title IV federal funding programs, which help students afford tuition.

China, Qatar Target American Campuses

China is a leading source of foreign influence on American campuses. Last year, Congress found that two universities entered nearly $40 million in unreported contracts with the Chinese Communist Party. The Deterrent Act spotlights China’s malign influence while laying the foundation for holding other countries accountable. Qatar is a prime candidate. In September, The Wall Street Journal reported that Doha poured “more non-tuition money into U.S. universities than any other country” between 2012 and 2024.

Qatar is a nominal U.S. ally that hosts Hamas leaders and spreads anti-Western propaganda via its Al Jazeera network. Six American universities currently operate satellite campuses in Doha — including Georgetown University, which, last fall, invited a former Al Jazeera executive who welcomed Hamas’s October 7 massacre to speak at a Georgetown-Qatar conference.

October 7, 2023, unleashed a wave of campus antisemitism. Now is the moment to scrutinize the flow of foreign money into American colleges and universities.

Natalie Ecanow is a senior research analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD). For more analysis from Natalie and FDD, please subscribe HERE. Follow Natalie on X @NatalieEcanow. Follow FDD on X @FDD. FDD is a Washington, DC-based, nonpartisan research institute focusing on foreign policy and national security.