Education Department investigates University of Pennsylvania over foreign funding

UPenn has 30 days to produce tax information and other documents to the department that date back to 2017.

Published: May 9, 2025 10:30am

Updated: May 9, 2025 11:07am

The Education Department  is investigating the University of Pennsylvania over foreign funding, alleging that inaccurate disclosures were provided to the agency.

The department's Office of the General Counsel opened the investigation Thursday, sending a records request to the university "after a review of the university’s foreign reports revealed inaccurate and incomplete disclosures," the agency alleged.

Colleges receiving federal financial assistance are required to disclose to the department when they receive $250,000 or more annually in foreign source gifts and contracts.

UPenn has 30 days to produce tax information and other documents to the department that date back to 2017, as well as a list of grants or gifts that came from foreign sources, admission agreements with foreign entities for international students, and information on those involved with admitting international students and those working with non-U.S. research institutions.

"UPenn has a troubling Section 117 compliance history, having failed to disclose any foreign funding until February of 2019 despite a decades-long statutory obligation to do so," Education Department acting General Counsel Tom Wheeler said in a statement. 

"Although the previous Administration degraded the Department’s enforcement of universities’ legal obligations to disclose foreign gifts and contracts, the Trump Administration will vigorously uphold the law and ensure universities are transparent with their foreign gifts and investments.

This is the second Education Department investigation the Ivy League college, from which President Donald Trump graduated, is facing. The university is currently under Title IX investigation for letting transgender swimmer Lia Thomas compete against women, use women's locker rooms and allegedly expose male genitalia to female athletes.

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