Federal Student Aid (FSA) recently posted updated information about foreign gifts and contracts reported by institutions as of Feb. 13, 2024.
Information below provides a snapshot of key findings in the data.
Updates of Foreign Gift and Contract Data Reported by Institutions
More than 30 years ago, Congress enacted disclosure requirements to promote public transparency about the role of foreign funding in U.S. higher education. Section 117 of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended(HEA), requires institutions of higher education that receive federal financial assistance to disclose semiannually to the U.S. Department of Education (the Department) any gifts received from and/or contracts with a foreign source that, alone or combined, are valued at $250,000 or more in a calendar year. The statute also requires institutions to report information when owned or controlled by a foreign source. More information about Section 117 is available on the Knowledge Center Foreign Gift and Contract Reporting Topics page.
The HEA requires institutions to update their reporting twice per year and submit information no later than January 31 or July 31, whichever is sooner. Foreign gift and contract data reported between Oct. 13, 2023, and Feb. 13, 2024, can be viewed in the interactive online database from the Department’s College Foreign Gift Reporting website at sites.ed.gov/foreigngifts. A comprehensive file of all public records also may be downloaded from the site.
FSA’s latest foreign gift and contract reporting data set shows over 6,000 additional foreign gifts and contracts transactions valued at nearly $3.8 billion since the Department’s last data release which covered through Oct. 13, 2023. The largest dollar amounts of gifts and contracts reported to the Department between Oct. 13, 2023, and Feb. 13, 2024, were from sources in China, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Switzerland, and United Kingdom. The institutions reporting the largest total dollar amounts in foreign gifts and contracts between Oct. 13, 2023, and Feb. 13, 2024, were Kean University, Harvard University, Cornell University, University of Pennsylvania, and Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. The largest single transaction reported for this reporting period is a multi-year contract between China and Kean University for $353.71 million.
The FSA Data Center was launched in 2009 to increase government transparency by posting information useful to businesses, postsecondary institutions, the media, and individuals.