Federal Student Aid (FSA) recently posted updated information about foreign gifts and contracts reported by institutions as of Oct.15, 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 as of Oct. 15, 2024, can be downloaded in a comprehensive Excel file displaying all public records from the Section 117 Foreign Gift and Contract Data page.
FSA’s latest foreign gift and contract reporting data set shows over 5,600 additional foreign gift and contract transactions valued at approximately $4 billion since the Department’s last data release as of Feb. 13, 2024. There were over 225 institutions self-reporting transactions from over 110 countries. The largest dollar amounts of gifts and contracts reported to the Department between Feb. 13, 2024, and Oct. 15, 2024, were from sources in Bermuda, Canada, Qatar, Germany, and Japan. The institutions reporting the largest total dollar amounts in foreign gifts and contracts between Feb. 13, 2024, and Oct. 15, 2024, were Morningside University, University of Cincinnati, Harvard University, Stanford University, and University of Pennsylvania.