US-POLITICS-HARVARD-EDUCATION
Demonstrators with signs stand around the John Harvard Statue in Harvard Yard after a rally was held against President Donald Trump's attacks on Harvard University at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts on April 17, 2025. Joseph Prezioso/Getty Images

BOSTON (Aug. 13, 2025) — Harvard University is close to a $500 million settlement with the Trump administration that would restore its access to federal funding and resolve a months-long dispute over alleged antisemitism on campus, according to PBS NewsHour.

The settlement would be the largest of its kind under the administration's campus civil rights enforcement. Half of the payment is expected to be directed toward workforce and vocational programs, with the rest going to the federal government.

Negotiations follow an April decision by federal officials to suspend roughly $2.6 billion in research grants and revoke certain contracts over what they said was Harvard's failure to address antisemitism. The administration also threatened to block the university from enrolling international students and, at one point, to seize or license Harvard-owned patents.

Harvard has denied wrongdoing and filed lawsuits challenging the funding suspension, calling it politically motivated. President Alan Garber has said the university is pursuing a legal resolution and has rejected any agreement that would compromise academic freedom.

The reported deal would exceed other recent university settlements, including Columbia University's $200 million and Brown University's $50 million agreements with the administration.

Terms of the Harvard settlement are still being finalized, and both sides have not publicly confirmed when it might be signed.