Harvard by the Numbers: How University Will Fare Without Taxpayer Subsidies

Losing federal funding will hit more than two-thirds of Harvard University’s research grants, but the vaunted Ivy League institution won’t be financially strapped in other areas. 

The university has $70.6 billion in total assets, and most of its more than $6.2 billion in annual expenses goes to salaries and benefits, according to its financial report and filings with the Internal Revenue Service.

Education Secretary Linda McMahon wrote Harvard President Alan Garber on Monday and referenced the university’s $53 billion endowment as among the reasons it will no longer receive federal funding.

“Harvard will cease to be a publicly funded institution and can instead operate as a privately funded institution, drawing on its colossal endowment and raising money from its large base of wealthy alumni,” McMahon wrote to Garber. “You have an approximately $53 billion head start.”

For 2024, Harvard operated with a surplus of $45 million, with its revenue base of $6.5 billion, according to its 2023-2024 financial report. 

Most of the university’s top administrators and even some faculty earn more than $400,000, while some are paid more than $1 million, according to the university’s most recent publicly available IRS filing.

The financial report says that 41% of its expenses went to wages and salaries, while 11% went to benefits.

“Compensation, or people, expenses—including salaries, wages, and benefits—accounted for over half of the university’s total operating costs in fiscal year 2024, with salaries and wages increasing by 9%, or $211 million, to $2.6 billion,” the 2023-2024 report says. 

The university’s endowment stands at $53.2 billion, an increase of $2.5 billion from the previous year, according to the financial report. Donations to the endowment during 2024 reached $368 million.

A Harvard spokesperson did not respond to specific questions from The Daily Signal for this story on Monday or Tuesday, but a spokesperson did issue a public statement in response to McMahon’s letter.

“Today, we received another letter from the administration doubling down on demands that would impose unprecedented and improper control over Harvard University and would have chilling implications for higher education,” the spokesperson said. “Today’s letter makes new threats to illegally withhold funding for lifesaving research and innovation in retaliation against Harvard for filing its lawsuit on April 21.”

The university sued the federal government after the Trump administration previously froze $2.2 billion in federal funds for Harvard. The latest move only escalates the clash. President Donald Trump has floated the idea of stripping the university of its tax-exempt status.

Much of the confrontation began with the rise of antisemitism during pro-Palestinian/anti-Israel student protests at Harvard and other campuses beginning after the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. The demonstrations intensified in spring 2024. But the Trump administration has since made demands on the school regarding compliance with federal policy opposing the use of diversity, equity, and inclusion practices. 

In 2024, the federal government gave $686 million for research at Harvard. That’s about 68% of the total revenue to fund research at the university, according to the financial report. 

Months before such funding was under threat, the financial report said, “Federal funding is the university’s largest source of support for research, playing a pivotal role in enabling studies that deliver widespread societal benefits.”

The university spent $749 million to cover student financial aid in 2024. That was a 6% increase over fiscal year 2023. The university notes that it has made attendance free for students from families earning incomes of less than $85,000.

The university’s liquid short-term investments totaled $2 billion, up from $1.4 billion the previous year. 

The university made $1.4 billion from students’ tuition and fees, a 4% increase over the previous year, according to the financial report. 

The university got $326 million in nonfederal revenue in fiscal year 2024 for research, which includes funding from corporations and foundations.

The most recent publicly available Harvard filing with the IRS—a document known as Form 990—covers the fiscal year 2022. 

That filing shows that then-Harvard President Lawrence Bacow was paid $1.048 million in 2022. 

Then-Provost Garber, the current university president battling with the Trump administration, earned $731,497 in 2022. 

Before becoming president—a role she stepped down from—Claudine Gay was the dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, where she was paid $646,049.

The 2022 Form 990 also lists four faculty members with salaries of more than $700,000. One faculty member earned $1.5 million.

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