Newly released figures from the United States Department of Education indicate that Qatar provided more than $1.1 billion in gifts and contracts to U.S. colleges and universities during the 2025 reporting year, the highest total of any foreign country.

The data comes from mandatory filings required of institutions that receive federal student aid. Under federal law, universities must report foreign-sourced gifts and contracts valued at $250,000 or more in a calendar year.

Across all reporting institutions, the department logged more than 8,300 qualifying transactions totaling over $5.2 billion in foreign funding.

After Qatar, the next-largest sources were the United Kingdom at $633 million and China at $528 million. Other major contributors included Switzerland ($451 million), Japan ($374 million), Germany ($292 million), and Saudi Arabia ($285 million).

Among universities, Carnegie Mellon University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology each reported close to $1 billion in foreign gifts and contracts for the year. Stanford University disclosed $775 million, while Harvard University reported $324 million.

The filings also listed $7.04 million from the “state of Palestine,” with the majority going to Indiana University of Pennsylvania and a smaller portion to Brown University.

In 2019, the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy published findings suggesting that some institutions had underreported financial ties with Qatar. The group estimated that Yale University received significantly more Qatari funding than publicly disclosed during a multi-year period.

More recently, the Middle East Forum reported that Qatar has provided approximately $1 billion over two decades to Georgetown University, supporting operations in both Washington and Doha, including faculty positions and academic programs.