WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump’s administration has asked US colleges to sign a deal on some sweeping terms — ranging from foreign enrolment and diversity to ideological values of students and staff — to get preferential access to federal funds, according to a 10-point memo sent on Wednesday by the government.

The memo shared with Reuters by a White House official demands that schools cap international undergrad enrolment at 15pc, ban the use of race or sex in hiring and admissions, freeze tuition for five years, require that applicants take the SAT or a similar test and quell grade inflation.

Trump has threatened to cut federal funding for universities over a range of issues such as pro-Palestinian protests against US ally Israel’s war on Gaza, transgender policies, climate initiatives and diversity, equity and inclusion programmes.

Rights advocates have raised free speech and academic freedom concerns over actions that they say are aimed at aligning universities with Trump’s political agenda. Trump alleges that universities harbour “anti-American” and anti-conservative values.

Memo details

The 10-point memo urged viewpoint diversity in faculty, students and staff, including revising governance structures and “transforming or abolishing institutional units that purposefully punish, belittle, and even spark violence against conservative ideas.”

The memo said foreign students should be supportive of “American and Western values” and urged colleges “to screen out students who demonstrate hostility to the United States, its allies, or its values”. It also says universities should share all known information about foreign students, including discipline records, upon request with the Department of Homeland Security and the State Department.

The guidance is likely to raise due process and privacy concerns in light of the Trump administration’s recent attempts to deport pro-Palestinian students. The attempts have faced legal challenges.

The memo says “no more than 15pc of a university’s undergraduate student population shall be participants in the Student Visa Exchange Programme, and no more than 5pc shall be from any one country”. For schools presently over the 15pc population, incoming matriculating classes should meet the 15pc cap, it adds.

Letters were sent on Wednesday to solicit agreement and feedback from Vanderbilt University, Dartmouth College, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Southern California, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Texas, the University of Arizona, Brown University and the University of Virginia, the White House official said. Universities that sign on will get “multiple positive benefits”, including “substantial and meaningful federal grants”, a letter addressed to university leaders said. The Wall Street Journal first reported the news.

Probes into universities

The Trump administration has launched probes into multiple colleges, particularly over pro-Palestinian protests against Israel’s assault on Gaza. The government has reached settlements to resolve probes with Columbia and Brown universities, both of which accepted certain government demands. Columbia agreed to pay more than $220 million to the government and Brown said it will pay $50m million to support local workforce development.

Published in Dawn, October 3rd, 2025