Donald Trump calls for 15% cap on foreign students in Harvard University to make it ‘nice once more’

US President Trump mentioned on Wednesday that Harvard University ought to scale back its variety of worldwide students to round 15 per cent in order to enhance entry for American students. This follows latest actions by the administration to freeze federal funding and limit Harvard’s capability to enroll foreign students.“I think they should have a cap of maybe around 15 per cent, not 31 per cent. We have people who want to go to Harvard and other schools, [but] they can’t get in because we have foreign students there,” Trump instructed reporters in the Oval Office of the White House.Last month, the Trump administration froze $2.2 billion in federal funding to Harvard. Last week, it additionally paused the college’s capability to enroll worldwide students. These actions got here after Harvard leaders didn’t meet authorities requests to handle antisemitic incidents and to share lists of foreign students with federal officers.“Harvard is treating our country with great disrespect,” Trump mentioned. “I want Harvard to be great again.”Trump additionally urged transferring federal funding away from Harvard and giving it to commerce faculties. Harvard has reported that 27.2 per cent of its scholar physique for the 2024–2025 tutorial 12 months is worldwide.“They’re taking $5 billion and I’d rather see that money go to trade schools. And by the way, they’re totally antisemitic at Harvard, as you know, and some other colleges too, in all fairness to them, and it’s been exposed, very exposed,” Trump mentioned.

“Every time they fight, they lose another $250 million. Yesterday, we found another $100 million. And they have, you know, they have a fund, an endowment, $52 billion, all right? They got a lot of that from the United States. And I think it’s ridiculous.”Trump added: “Everyone’s coming up to me saying, ‘We love the idea of trade schools, with that kind of money … you can have the best trade schools anywhere in the world.”President Donald Trump has railed in opposition to Harvard, calling it a hotbed of liberalism and antisemitism. The college filed a lawsuit April 21 over the administration’s calls for adjustments to the college’s management, governance and admissions insurance policies. Since then, the administration has slashed the varsity’s federal funding, moved to lower off enrollment of worldwide students and threatened its tax-exempt standing.