After decades of partnership with the U.S. government, colleges are facing new doubts about the future of their federal funding.

President Donald Trump’s administration has been using the funding spigot to seek compliance with his agenda, cutting off money to schools including Columbia University and the University of Pennsylvania. All the while, universities across the country are navigating cuts to grants for research institutions.

The squeeze on higher education underscores how much American colleges depend on the federal government — a provider of grants and contracts that have amounted to close to half the total revenue of some research universities, according to an Associated Press analysis.

It adds up to a crisis for universities, and a problem for the country as a whole, say school administrators and advocates for academic freedom. America’s scientific and medical research capabilities are tightly entwined with its universities as part of a compact that started after World War II to develop national expertise and knowledge.

“It feels like any day, any university could step out of line in some way and then have all of their funding pulled,” said Jonathan Friedman, managing director of free expression programs at PEN America.

Tens of billions of dollars are at stake

The AP analysis looked at federal funding for nearly 100 colleges currently under investigation for programs the administration has deemed as illegally pushing diversity, equity and inclusion, or for not doing enough to combat antisemitism. Those schools took in over $33 billion in federal revenue in the 2022-2023 academic year. That’s before taking into account federal student aid, which represents billions more in tuition and room-and-board payments.

For most of the schools, around 10% to 13% of their revenue came from federal contracts or research funding, according to the analysis. For some prestigious research universities, however, federal money represented up to half of their revenue.

The AP analyzed data from the National Center for Education Statistics and federal audit reports, with help from researchers Jason Cohn and James Carter at the Urban Institute.

Perhaps no school is more vulnerable than Johns Hopkins University, which received $4 billion in federal funds, close to 40% of its revenue, according to the analysis. Much of that went to defense research, paying for projects like missile design, submarine technology and precision tracking systems in outer space. Billions of dollars also went to medical research for topics such as immunology and transplants, aging, neuroscience and mental health.

Johns Hopkins is facing an antisemitism investigation, which threatens its federal money, but already it has been feeling the effects of cuts to research grants from the National Institutes of Health and other federal agencies. Earlier this month, it announced 2,200 layoffs.

“We face challenging times for the patients and families that rely on us for cures and treatments, and for the researchers dedicated to the pursuit of improving the health of all Americans,” the university said in a statement.

Trump extracted concessions from Columbia

Trump has singled out Columbia University, making an example of the Ivy League school by withholding $400 million in federal money. The administration repeatedly accused Columbia of letting antisemitism go unchecked at protests against Israel that began at the New York City university last spring and quickly spread to other campuses — a characterization disputed by those involved in the demonstrations.

As a precondition for restoring that money — along with billions more in future grants — the Republican administration demanded unprecedented changes in university policy. Columbia’s decision last week to bow to those demands, in part to salvage ongoing research projects at its labs and medical center, has been criticized by some faculty and free speech groups as capitulating to an intrusion on academic freedom.

At the White House on Wednesday, Trump expressed satisfaction with the pressure campaign on colleges.

“You see what we’re doing with the colleges, and they’re all bending and saying, ‘Sir, thank you very much, we appreciate it,’” Trump said during an event for Women’s History Month.

In the 2022-2023 academic year, Columbia got close to a fifth of its revenue from federal sources, around $1.2 billion. An audit shows that much of Columbia’s federal money went to research and development, including $166 million for global AIDS programs, $99 million to study aging, $28 million for cancer biology and $24 million for drug abuse and addiction research.

A new approach on enforcement of civil rights laws

Federal law allows the Education Department to terminate funding to colleges that violate civil rights laws, but only after taking certain steps. Title VI of the law says the department must first make a formal finding of noncompliance, offer a hearing, notify Congress and then wait 30 days before pulling aid.

But the Trump administration has a new strategy, moving quickly from demands to penalties with little room for negotiating, and little indication of due process, legal experts say.

At Penn, the administration suspended $175 million in federal funding from the Defense Department and the Department of Health and Human Services over a transgender swimmer who last competed for the school in 2022. The White House said the action came out of a review of discretionary money going to universities.

“It looks like much of the playbook is intimidation, more so than actual substantiated legal findings,” said Michael Pillera, director of educational equity issues at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. “I think all of this is designed as an attempt to intimidate all universities, not just the institutions under investigation.”

The cuts and the uncertainty have led some universities to accept fewer graduate students, cutting off pathways to careers. Many graduate students in science programs receive scholarships and stipends that come from federal research grants.

Purdue University senior Alyssa Johnson had been planning to pursue graduate research on amphibian diseases, and she was accepted into a program. But she ultimately decided to change her course of study because of the uncertainty around funding.

“I kind of went through a little bit of career crisis, which was definitely catalyzed by what’s going on with the current administration and their attitudes toward science and science communication,” Johnson said.

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AP writers Kasturi Pananjady, Cheyanne Mumphrey and Chris Megerian contributed to this report.

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The Associated Press’ education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

Sharon Lurye And Jocelyn Gecker, The Associated Press

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — Lawyers for Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University student the Trump administration is trying to expel from the U.S. because of his role in campus protests against Israel, are expected to appear Friday before a judge in New Jersey as they fight for his release from federal custody.

Khalil, 30, was arrested March 8 at his university-owned apartment building in New York, then flown south to Louisiana, where he remains locked in an immigration detention center.

The Trump administration has cited a seldom-invoked statute authorizing the secretary of state to deport noncitizens whose presence in the country threatens U.S. foreign-policy interests. Khalil was born in Syria but is a legal U.S. resident married to an American citizen.

The court fight in Newark is a continuation of one that began in New York City, but which was transferred across the Hudson River after a judge determined a federal court in New Jersey was the proper jurisdiction for the case. Among the first issues for the new judge is whether to keep the case or transfer it again. The Trump administration wants it moved to Louisiana.

Khalil served as a negotiator for pro-Palestinian Columbia students as they bargained with university officials over an end to their campus tent encampment last spring. The university ultimately called in the police to dismantle the encampment and a faction of protesters seized an administration building.

Khalil was not among the people arrested in the Columbia protests and he has not been accused of any crime.

But the administration has said it wants to deport Khalil because of his prominent role in the protests, which they say amounted to antisemitic support for Hamas, the militant group that controls Gaza. People involved in the student-led protests deny their criticism of Israel or support of Palestinian territorial claims is antisemitic.

U.S. officials also have accused Khalil of failing to disclose some of his work history on his immigration paperwork, including work at a British embassy and an internship with the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees.

Other university students and faculty across the country have been arrested by immigration officials, had their visas revoked or been prevented from entering the U.S. because they attended demonstrations or publicly expressed support for Palestinians.

Among them are a Gambian student at Cornell University in upstate New York, an Indian scholar at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., a Lebanese doctor at Brown University’s medical school in Rhode Island, a Turkish student at Tufts University in Massachusetts and a Korean student at Columbia who has lived in the country since she was 7.

The Associated Press

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Democrats, with few electoral outlets for their outrage at President Donald Trump’s dramatic restructuring of the federal government, are pouring millions of dollars into two special elections in Florida.

That’s where Democratic candidates are trying to accomplish the improbable by flipping a pair of Trump-friendly congressional seats and carving into Republicans’ narrow 218 to 213 majority in the U.S. House of Representatives. While Democratic leaders aren’t predicting outright wins in such Republican-leaning districts, they say they think they’ll exceed expectations. And they sound especially hopeful about the 6th Congressional District, where a public school teacher has out raised a Trump-endorsed state senator by a nearly 10-to-1 margin in the race to replace Mike Waltz, who was tapped by Trump to be a national security adviser in what was widely seen as a move without much political risk.

Democrats’ challenge in both districts is formidable, but the money has been pouring in.

“The floodgates have really opened,” said Aubrey Jewett, a political scientist at the University of Central Florida. “It’s like, wow.”

Republicans, including Trump, have noticed too, and are looking to head off an embarrassing outcome. The president joined both Republican candidates by telephone on separate tele-town halls Thursday to help get out the vote in the “all-important” elections.

Winning both races next Tuesday would be colossal for a Democratic Party that has struggled to settle on a way to push back during the early days of the second Trump administration. Winning either — or even narrowing the margin in districts the president won by more than 30 points less than five months ago — could help alleviate the panic that set in among party leaders after Republicans swept both houses of Congress and the presidency in November.

An early test in Republican territory

National Democrats point to the fundraising hauls in some of the most conservative parts of Florida as a sign that voters are already fed up with the president’s aggressive second term, a message they’re hoping to parlay into grassroots support — and more money — ahead of the 2026 midterms.

Voters in Florida’s 1st and 6th Congressional Districts will be among the first to put the new administration to an electoral test in the April 1 special elections to fill seats once held by former Reps. Matt Gaetz and Waltz, who were both tapped to join the Trump administration.

Gaetz withdrew from consideration to be attorney general amid allegations of sexual misconduct, which he has denied. Waltz currently finds himself at the center of controversy over the texting of sensitive military plans for an attack on Houthis in Yemen to a group that included a journalist.

Democrats Gay Valimont in the 1st District and Josh Weil in the 6th District have both far outraised and outspent their Trump-backed Republican competitors, in districts the president won by 30 points or more in 2024.

Florida Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis, who’s running in the 1st District, and state Sen. Randy Fine in the 6th District have both campaigned as staunch allies of the president, who endorsed them in the primary.

But with donations for the Democrats flooding in from all 50 states, Republicans are funneling resources into the races in the hopes the GOP won’t “get embarrassed” Tuesday by a better-than-expected showing by Democrats.

“I want it to be a landslide,” said Doug Stauffer, chair of the GOP in Okaloosa County, which is part of the 1st District. “And if it’s not, then we haven’t done the right thing for the constituents.”

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries is already pushing the message that if Democrats overperform in the districts, resistance to Trump’s second term could help them take back the House in 2026.

“These are races that should not under ordinary circumstances be on anyone’s political radar. They are safe Republican seats that Donald Trump won by more than 30 points,” Jeffries told reporters this week. “The American people are not buying what the Republicans are selling. That is why they are on the run.”

In the 6th District, which extends north of Orlando, Florida, Weil has pulled in an eye-popping $9 million, according to the most recent campaign finance reports. That’s nearly 10 times the fundraising reported by Fine, a self-described “conservative firebrand” and former gambling industry executive known for his anti-LGBTQ stances and combative approach to politics.

In recent days, Fine has come under pressure from Republican leaders to raise more money, and has ponied up $600,000 of his own fortune for his campaign, he told The Associated Press. Plus, outside groups are spending more than $2 million to help Fine, according to data from AdImpact, narrowing the fundraising gap.

North Carolina Rep. Richard Hudson, chair of the National Republican Congressional Committee, acknowledged that Fine should have stepped up his fundraising earlier, but said he’ll be a strong member of Congress.

“I’m not concerned about margins,” Hudson said. “I mean, special elections are special.”

A call for help from a surprising source

According to an email shared with the AP, even people in Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ orbit are working to gin up support for Fine — a notable development because of the venom the two Sunshine State Republicans hold for each other, after Fine publicly turned on DeSantis to endorse Trump during the 2024 presidential primary.

In a message to voters this week, a DeSantis staffer urged “grassroots warriors” to knock on doors and make phone calls in the 6th District, saying the race “is at a critical crossroads” and “the stakes couldn’t be higher.”

Bryan Piligra, a spokesperson for the Fine campaign, said they appreciate the help.

“The only thing that matters is making sure Republicans are united to defeat radical Democrats like Josh Weil who will stop at nothing to destroy President Trump,” Piligra said in a statement.

Weil, in a statement of his own, said the “tides are turning” on the GOP as Trump pushes to fire federal workers and dismantle federal agencies.

Weil said he’s grateful to those “who have invested in my campaign and made this a truly grassroots effort. It’s because of them that we have Republicans scrambling.”

Still, the chair of the Republican Party of Florida, Evan Power, said he’s confident the Republican candidates will win their races because “we have the ground game.” But he acknowledged that turnout tends to fall significantly during special elections, which could cut into the GOP’s margin of victory.

“Republicans haven’t done as great in special elections as they do in general elections,” Power said.

Some observers say the national attention being paid to Democrats in safe Republican districts is itself a victory for the minority party. But Jewett, the political scientist, said it would take a “miracle” for Democrats to win either seat.

“Money is important in elections,” Jewett said. “But it can only — usually — it can only take you so far.”

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Associated Press writers Leah Askarinam in Washington and Stephany Matat in West Palm Beach, Florida, contributed to this report. Payne is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

Kate Payne, The Associated Press

The Trump administration has opened investigations into the admissions policies at Stanford University and three campuses within the University of California system, including UC Berkeley, UCLA and UC Irvine, the Department of Justice said Thursday.

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi has directed the department’s Civil Rights Division to investigate whether the schools’ policies comply with the 2023 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that ended affirmative action in college admissions, the department said in a statement.

Since taking office in January, President Donald Trump has attempted to dismantle diversity, equity and inclusion programs that his administration says exclude white and Asian American students. The administration has warned schools and colleges they could lose federal money over “race-based preferences” in admissions, hiring, scholarships and all aspects of campus life.

The latest action comes after the U.S. Department of Education said it was investigating 52 universities for alleged racial discrimination earlier this month. Most of those schools were told those investigations were due to a partnership with a nonprofit organization that aimed to help students of color get doctoral degrees.

“President Trump and I are dedicated to ending illegal discrimination and restoring merit-based opportunity across the country,” Bondi said in the statement. “Every student in America deserves to be judged solely based on their hard work, intellect, and character, not the color of their skin.”

Stanford said in a statement Thursday that after the Supreme Court ruling, it took immediate steps to ensure its admissions process complied with the law.

“We continue to be committed to fulfilling our obligations under the law,” the statement said. The school said it had not been told specifically why it was being investigated. “We do not have details about today’s announcement, but we look forward to learning more about their concerns and responding to the department’s questions.”

The University of California did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Separately, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said it was investigating “a major medical school in California” for alleged racial discrimination in admissions. The statement did not name the school. It said the action was in response to information the Office for Civil Rights had received. It did not give specifics.

The Trump administration also launched an investigation Thursday into the California Department of Education. At issue is a law that says districts can’t force teachers and staff to notify parents if a student changes their gender identity at school.

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The Associated Press’ education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

Jocelyn Gecker, The Associated Press

CHICAGO (AP) — A federal judge has temporarily blocked the U.S. Department of Labor from implementing parts of President Donald Trump’s executive orders aimed at curbing diversity, equity and inclusion efforts among federal contractors and grant recipients.

Judge Matthew Kennelly of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois halted the Labor Department from requiring federal contractors or grant recipients from certifying that they don’t operate any programs in violation of Trump’s anti-DEI executive orders.

That certification provision has stepped up pressure on companies and other organizations to revisit their DEI practices because if the government were to determine they violated the provision, they would be subject to crippling financial penalties under the False Claims Act.

Thursday’s ruling is in response to a lawsuit filed by Chicago Women in Trades, a nonprofit founded in 1981 that helps prepare women for work in skilled construction trades and has several contracts with the Department of Labor. There was no immediate reaction from Chicago Women in Trades to Kennelly’s order. The Department of Justice did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

A hearing on Chicago Women in Trades’ bid for a longer-lasting halt on Trump’s anti-DEI executive orders is scheduled for April 10.

The organization’s lawsuit is one of several challenging Trump’s executive orders targeting DEI programs in both the private and public sectors.

Trump signed an order his first day in office directing federal agencies to terminate all “equity-related” grants or contracts. He signed a follow-up order that included a requirement that federal contractors and grantees certify that they don’t “operate any programs promoting DEI that violate any applicable Federal anti-discrimination laws.”

Kennelly’s decision comes nearly two weeks after an appeals court lifted a broader nationwide injunction against Trump’s anti-DEI executive orders in a separate lawsuit in Baltimore. But Thursday’s ruling is limited in scope because Kennelly declined to extend the temporary restraining order to other federal agencies.

Chicago Women in Trades, which filed its case against the Trump administration last month, argued that the president’s executive orders on DEI are so broad and vague that the organization had no way to ensure compliance, and thus they threaten its core mission.

Kennelly wrote that Chicago Women in Trades, which is being represented by the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, was likely to succeed in its arguments that parts of the executive orders are a violation of free speech rights and are unconstitutionally vague.

Although the government argued that the certification provision “implicates only illegal DEI programs, it has studiously declined to shed any light on what this means. The answer is anything but obvious,” Kennelly wrote.

Kennelly wrote that he extended his order to all Labor Department contractors and grant recipients because the vagueness of Trump’s executive orders, coupled with the threat of financial penalties, would likely pressure organizations to curb DEI programs in potential violation of free speech rights.

Rather than face potentially crippling penalties, “it is likely that many of these grantees will take the safer route and choose to simply stop speaking on anything remotely related to what the government might consider to promote DEI or equity. A nationwide restraining order is appropriate to protect grantees who cannot afford the risks inherent in biting the hand that feeds them,” Kennelly wrote.

The judge also blocked the DOL from freezing or canceling any funding with Chicago Women in Trades, and the Trump administration from pursuing any False Claims Act enforcement against them.

During a hearing on Tuesday, the Trump administration argued that Chicago Women in Trades’ motion for relief was premature because its arguments rely on speculation as to how the executive orders will be implemented.

But Chicago Women in Trades noted in court filings that it has multiple communications from the Department of Labor directing them to ensure compliance with both DEI executive orders. The organization also said in court and has already lost a subcontract with a contractor trying to comply with the executive order.

Chicago Women in Trades has a long history of partnering with companies, state and federal agencies and other industry stakeholders to provide guidance and training on best practices for recruiting and retaining women in the trades — including training to combat bias and harassment that is prevalent in one of the country’s most male-dominated industries.

Its grant work with the federal government dates back years, including two grants awarded under the first Trump administration under the Women in Apprenticeship and Nontraditional Occupations, which aims to expand pathways for women seeking to enter skilled trades.

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The Associated Press’ women in the workforce and state government coverage receives financial support from Pivotal Ventures. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

Claire Savage And Alexandra Olson, The Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump moved Thursday to end collective bargaining with federal labor unions in agencies with national security missions across the federal government, citing authority granted him under a 1978 law.

The order, signed without public fanfare and announced late Thursday, appears to touch most of the federal government. Affected agencies include the Departments of State, Defense, Veterans Affairs, Energy, Health and Human Services, Treasury, Justice and Commerce and the part of Homeland Security responsible for border security.

Police and firefighters will continue to collectively bargain.

Trump said the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 gives him the authority to end collective bargaining with federal unions in these agencies because of their role in safeguarding national security.

Darlene Superville, The Associated Press

ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia lawmakers are retreating from election proposals that could have allowed a Donald Trump-aligned state board to strike thousands of challenged voters from the rolls and would have required polling officials to count the number of ballots by hand.

House Bill 397 was rewritten to remove those provisions before it was passed Thursday by the Senate Ethics Committee, sending it to the full Senate for more debate.

The bill still seeks to force the state to leave the Electronic Records Information Center. Some question the funding and motives of that multistate group, which tries to maintain accurate voter rolls. But Georgia now would not be required to exit until mid-2027 instead of within months, as was earlier proposed.

Republican Rep. Tim Fleming of Covington said he and others decided to remove some of the most controversial provisions after they were panned by officials who work for Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, county election directors and others in hours of testimony Wednesday night.

“After hearing a lot of concerns, we realize there’s some things in the bill that probably needed some more work, some more time to be focused on, which we are going to work on during the off-session on our side,” Fleming said.

Supporters said poll workers need to make sure the number of ballots collected on Election Day matches the total counted by ballot-scanning machines. But county officials warned that a requirement to count by hand the number of ballots — although not individual votes — could lead to delays in reporting results, mistakes by tired workers and problems with ballot security. Some counties in Georgia conducted hand counts until a few years ago.

Similarly, supporters said the State Election Board needs to hear appeals of challenged voters because counties are turning down thousands of challenges. But opponents questioned whether the Republican-controlled board can adequately or fairly hear appeals. GOP activists challenged more than 63,000 voters statewide last summer, but most were rejected by counties.

The State Election Board adopted a series of rules amid intense scrutiny last year only to see a judge throw most of them out, finding that the board overreached its legal authority. An appeal of that ruling was argued last week before the Georgia Supreme Court.

The bill still seeks to put some rejected rules into law. That includes allowing increased access in election offices for partisan-appointed poll watchers and requiring counties to publish more statistics about absentee ballots.

The measure also includes other Republican goals, like a ban on counties opening election offices the weekend before an election to let voters hand-deliver ballots. State and federal judges slapped down Republican lawsuits to block the practice last November.

Other items cater to Republicans’ continuing distrust of the election system, like requiring live nighttime video surveillance of ballot drop boxes that are emptied and then padlocked shut inside government buildings closed to the public.

Jeff Amy, The Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump revealed his intentions to reshape the Smithsonian Institution with an executive order Thursday that targets funding to programs with “divisive narratives” and “improper ideology.”

Trump said there has been a “concerted and widespread” effort over the past decade to rewrite American history by replacing “objective facts” with a “distorted narrative driven by ideology rather than truth.”

He signed an executive order putting Vice President JD Vance in charge of an effort to “remove improper ideology” from the Smithsonian Institution, including its museums, education and research centers and the National Zoo.

Darlene Superville, The Associated Press