Only 39 US colleges can withstand Trump's freeze on research dollars—here's why

President Donald Trump's administration has launched a sweeping freeze on federal research funding, targeting American colleges and universities that refuse to comply with new political conditions. Among these are requirements to eliminate diversity programs, curb student protest, and allow federal audits—demands that many institutions view as a direct attack on academic freedom.
Harvard University became the face of resistance on April 15, 2025, when its president, Alan Garber, publicly rejected the administration's conditions. According to Forbes, Harvard's refusal came two weeks after federal agencies announced a review of $9 billion in research funding. As a consequence, the government froze $2.2 billion in multi-year grants and $60 million in multi-year contracts for Harvard. On April 16, 2025, President Trump escalated tensions further, threatening to strip the university of its tax-exempt status via a Truth Social post.
The financial strength behind resistance
Harvard is not standing alone. As reported by Forbes, 39 institutions across the US have the financial strength—primarily in the form of large endowments and diversified revenue streams—to resist federal pressure. These schools have endowments worth at least $500,000 per student and earned a B+ or higher in the Forbes Financial Grade ranking. All but one—Princeton University—rely on federal dollars for 20% or less of their operating revenue.

These schools include prestigious private research universities like Yale University, the University of Notre Dame, Vanderbilt University, and Washington University in St. Louis. Wealthy liberal arts colleges also make the list, such as Williams College and Amherst College in Massachusetts, both with $3.3 billion in endowment and A+ financial grades. Davidson College in North Carolina also qualifies, with a $1.3 billion endowment and an A grade.
Why other elite schools didn't make the cut
Notably missing from the list are Ivy League institutions like Columbia University and Cornell University. Despite endowments of $14.8 billion and $10.2 billion respectively, both schools enroll large student bodies, giving them lower per-student endowments—approximately $360,000 per student. As Forbes reported, Columbia ultimately agreed to the administration's terms to avoid losing $400 million in federal funding. The university agreed to review its Middle East studies programs, ban face coverings at protests, and hire 36 special officers to monitor student demonstrations.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, despite a $23.5 billion endowment, was also excluded because 53% of its operating revenue depends on federal funding, and 31% of its students are international, as cited by Forbes.
39 Trump-Proof Universities

Endowments can't cover everything
Though these 39 colleges have robust financial profiles, resisting the administration's freeze won't be easy. As higher education finance consultant Lucie Lapovsky explained to Forbes, "Most of the funding that is being frozen is research funding, and most endowment money is restricted to specific things." She noted that institutions would need to renegotiate donor restrictions or raise new unrestricted funds to support ongoing research in critical areas like AIDS, cancer, and climate science.
Even Harvard, with a $53 billion endowment—the largest in the world—faces difficulty maintaining its research output without government support. As Forbes quoted Lapovsky, "There's a variety of places that have funds to get repurposed to support research, but the magnitude of the federal research is huge."