Harvard's donations increase dramatically in a matter of hours.

[Septua]

Trump picked the wrong school to intimidate with Harvard...

https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2025/4/18/donations-hour-by-hour/

Headline:

Hour by Hour: How Harvard’s Donations Surged After Garber Challenged Trump

Between Garber’s email and 9 a.m. on Wednesday, Harvard received nearly 4,000 online gifts totalling $1.14 million, according to a giving update produced by Harvard Alumni Affairs and Development and obtained by the Crimson.

But the largest surge in donations came in the aftermath of Trump’s $2.2 billion funding cut, announced around 7:30 p.m. on Monday.

According to the development office, between 8 p.m. and midnight on Monday, Harvard received nearly 1,000 online donations — an average of more than 200 donations an hour.

Boldness is contagious, someone said.

[SheltieLover]

1. Excellent!

[madville]

2. Their endowment fund is 53.2 Billion

They aren’t going broke anytime soon even without federal funding lol.

[Dumpy]

8. It is hard for me to feel bad for an organization

with $53 billion in the bank when many poor people are one paycheck away from homelessness.

[Septua]

3. It's obviously about more than money...

There was a long discussion on Deadline White House today relative to schools and law firms caving to Trump's threats and intimidations. Some who caved have discovered bullies are never satisfied with a single, sacrificial lamb...they come back wanting more. This is what most people know and those caving to Trump should have certainly known it.

But in the discussion today, one guy said there was an initial move on Harvard by Trump and some actions were quietly taken. But Trump came back, wanting more and Harvard said fu*k off.

[DFW]

4. I know a guy who was pissed at Harvard

He was a graduate, and a third generation legacy. His sons, were refused admission (one got his PhD in engineering at Stanford), as well as his niece, a bilingual pre-law student who became one of her generation’s most prominent and successful attorneys in her field. This guy was so pissed at Harvard that he ceased all alumni donations about 20 years ago.

It took Trump to get him to reconsider that stance.

[MichMan]

5. Good, they can tell the Federal government they don't need their damn money

if it comes with conditions. If that is the path Harvard takes, that also means that none of their students are eligible for grants or loans.

[Raftergirl]

7. Harvard has the money to give institutional grants because of their massive endowment. The federal grant

students may get is Pell, which is minuscule to begin with, and only students from lowest family income are eligible for Pell. Most of the money Harvard students get comes directly from their endowment not the federal government.

It may affect federal loans any student can get, regardless of family income and that is about $6k a year max.

A lot of parents make their kids take the federal student loan so they have “skin” in the game, even if they don’t need the money to pay for COA. I know quite a few who made their kids take them out, and then after graduation paid the loan off for their kids.

[MichMan]

9. Just going by what was told to Hillsdale 40 years ago.

Even though they didn't receive any direct Federal money, since their students were getting grants and loans, Hillsdale was still benefitting indirectly. They ended up financing the grants and loans themselves and have continued doing so. Harvard should do the same.

[Raftergirl]

10. Most of the money Harvard (and the other top schools) gives to their students comes directly from their

endowments, not the federal government. They can easily make up the difference. And institutional aid doesn’t not need to be paid back.

Students get very little from Pell and federal loans are capped at $31k over 4 years, so about $7500/yr. The Harvard COA is $86k/year.

Tuition alone is $59k a year and Harvard pays the full cost of that for families with incomes under $200k/ yr.

If under $100k/yr Harvard pays 100% of COA to those not eligible for Pell which ranges from $740/yr up to $7400/yr.) so most of the cost is already being paid for by Harvard, not the federal government.

[Raftergirl]

6. I'm thinking his kid was rejected and that is why he is out for revenge. It's funny I haven't heard any demands

made to NYU.