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Latest Cases & Developments
Date:
Department of Education Announces Additional Partnerships with Federal Agencies (Feb. 23, 2026)
The Department of Education (ED) announced two new interagency agreements (IAA) with the Department of State (State) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). State will partner with ED on the Section 117 foreign gifts reporting and HHS will partner with ED on family engagement and school support programs. A fact sheet on the partnership with State can be found here. A fact sheet on the partnership with HHS can be found here.
Topics:
Endowments & Gifts | Taxes & FinancesDate:
Department of Education Releases Latest Foreign Funding Disclosures (Feb. 11, 2026)
The Department of Education released new data on its updated foreign gift reporting portal. For 2025, universities reported more than 8,300 foreign gifts and contracts totaling more than $5.2 billion. The disclosures identify Qatar (over $1.1 billion), the United Kingdom (over $633 million), China (over $528 million), Switzerland (over $451 million), Japan (over $374 million), Germany (over $292 million), and Saudi Arabia (over $285 million) as the largest foreign sources of reportable gifts and contracts to American universities. The Department’s new portal is designed to make information more readily accessible to the public and provides aggregate foreign funding totals dating back to 1986, although these totals are not disaggregated by year.
Topics:
Endowments & Gifts | International Ventures | Research | Taxes & FinancesDate:
Neurodegenerative Disease Research, Inc. v. Northwestern Univ. (N.D. Ill. Nov. 13, 2025)
Opinion and Order Denying in Part Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss. Plaintiff, Neurodegenerative Disease Research, Inc., brought claims against Northwestern University for fraudulent concealment and for breach of contract or, alternatively, equitable accounting, after it donated several million dollars to fund a multi-year research project conducted under the direction of a specific professor, and subsequently learned that, due to the professor’s strained relationship with the university, the professor would be leaving the university. The court held plaintiff had pled sufficient facts to survive a motion to dismiss on its fraudulent concealment claim, finding that a special relationship existed between the parties that gave rise to a duty to disclose the fact that prior litigation between the professor and the university could impact his availability to oversee the research. The court dismissed the plaintiff’s breach of contract claim, finding that although the university had failed to provide annual reports about the use of the funds as required by their agreement, the plaintiff had failed to allege that it suffered any damages as a result. However, the court allowed the plaintiff’s equitable accounting claim to proceed because the plaintiff had adequately alleged facts demonstrating that it did not have “an adequate remedy at law” for the university’s failure to provide the report and because a fiduciary relationship existed between the parties.
Topics:
Contracts | Endowments & Gifts | Grants, Contracts, & Sponsored Research | Research | Taxes & FinancesDate:
Hastings Coll. Conservation Comm. v. State of California (Cal. App. Oct. 15, 2025)
Opinion Affirming Order Sustaining a Demurrer Without Leave to Amend. Plaintiffs, the Hastings College Conservation Committee and several descendants of S.C. Hastings, sued the State of California and the board of the College of Law, San Francisco alleging that A.B. 1936, a state law that changed the college’s name and removed a requirement that reserved a board seat for an heir or representative of S.C. Hastings, violated various provisions of the California and U.S. Constitutions. On appeal, the court affirmed the trial court’s order finding A. B. 1936 (1) was not a bill of attainder because it did not “inflict punishment” on the plaintiffs; (2) was not an ex post facto law because it was not a criminal statute, nor was it “‘so punitive either in purpose or effect as to negate [the State’s] intention’ to deem it ‘civil.’”; and (3) did not violate the California constitutional provision regarding collegiate freedom because the college’s board invited the change, and thus, it was not politically motivated.
Topics:
Contracts | Contracts Administration | Endowments & Gifts | Taxes & FinancesDate:
Department of Education Foreign Funding Investigation into the University of Michigan (Jul. 15, 2025)
The U.S. Department of Education (the Department) announced that it has opened an investigation into the University of Michigan following a review of the University’s reports pursuant to Section 117 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. §1011f), alleging inaccurate and incomplete disclosures. The Department, requested that the University provide with tax records, a written narrative of the University’s procedures related to compliance with Section 117’s foreign funding disclosure requirements, a copy of each written agreement with a foreign government, foreign educational institution, foreign non-government entity, or foreign corporate entity relating to international student admissions, detailing the participation of non-U.S. individual or entities in university or university-affiliated research collaborations, identification of all university personnel and contract personnel involved in the university’s assistance and/or efforts related to F-1 Student Visa, work permits, and travel for international students, faculty, and other personnel, identification of all involved in bilateral or multilateral research collaborations with non-U.S. research institutions, identification of all university personnel responsible for the oversight and/or administration of the university’s compliance with federal Foreign Government Talent Recruitment Program restrictions, and, all foreign gifts, grants, and contracts between the University and any foreign source. The time frame for these requests is from January 1, 2020, through the present.
Topics:
Contracts | Employment of Foreign Nationals | Endowments & Gifts | External Investigations | Faculty & Staff | Grants, Contracts, & Sponsored Research | Immigration | International Students | International Ventures | Investigations | Research | Taxes & FinancesDate:
One Big Beautiful Bill Act Signed into Law (July 04, 2025)
On July 4, 2025, President Donald J. Trump signed into law the One Big Beautiful Act (H.R. 1), effectuating a significant legislative overhaul of federal higher education policy, student financial aid, and related tax and entitlement programs. The statute enacts broad modifications across Pell Grant eligibility, federal student loan programs, institutional accountability standards, endowment tax restructuring, and introduces extensive changes to the Medicaid program.
Topics:
Endowments & Gifts | Financial Aid, Scholarships, & Student Loans | Students | Taxes & FinancesDate:
U.S. House of Representatives Passes the One Big Beautiful Tax and Spending Bill (May 22, 2025)
The U.S. House of Representatives passed the “One Big Beautiful Bill” with a vote of 215 to 214. The tax package provisions that would impact postsecondary institutions the most include (1) limiting Pell eligibility; (2) eliminating subsidized student loans; (3) eliminating Grad PLUS and restricting Parent PLUS loans; (4) imposing new limits on federal aid; (5) reducing forbearance and deferment options; (6) modification of the endowment tax; (7) impact on charitable giving; (8) expansion of tax on executive compensation; and (9) social security number requirement for tax credits. It now moves to the Senate with hopes of passing by July 4, 2025, though it may occur later in the summer.
Topics:
Endowments & Gifts | Financial Aid, Scholarships, & Student Loans | Students | Taxes & FinancesDate:
ACE Letter Opposing the Reconciliation Package (May 21, 2025)
The American Council on Education (ACE) sent a letter to the U.S. House of Representatives expressing strong opposition to the reconciliation package under consideration by the House. It states that if enacted, the bill would put college out of reach of hundreds of thousands of students, significantly increase the costs for remaining students, and weaken America’s ability to compete with global rivals “by undermining the academic and research system that has driven our economy for decades.” The letter also expresses concern about the proposed changes to student aid programs, the availability of federal student loans for graduate students, new and increased taxes imposed on institutions of higher education, and significant cuts to other programs supporting millions of postsecondary students nationwide. In addition to the proposed cuts in student aid and harmful tax provisions, the letter express concern about the deep cuts to Medicaid, as the Congressional Budget Office projects that millions of Americans could lose coverage, which in turn may reduce state support for public higher education, thus increasing pressure on campus health systems and teaching hospitals and limit access to care for millions of low-income students who rely on Medicaid.
Topics:
Endowments & Gifts | Financial Aid, Scholarships, & Student Loans | Students | Taxes & FinancesDate:
U.S. Department of Education Updated Foreign Gift and Contract Data (May 9, 2025)
U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Federal Student Aid (the Department) posted updated information about foreign gifts and contracts reported by institutions of higher education (IHEs) as of February 28, 2025. The data shows more than 529 additional foreign gift and contract transactions valued at approximately $290 million since the Department’s last data release from the July 31, 2024, reporting period. The post states that over 269 IHEs self-reported transactions greater than 131 countries, noting the IHEs reporting the largest total dollar amounts included Harvard University, Stanford University, University of California, Berkeley, University of California, Los Angeles, and Yale University. The Department reported that the largest dollar amounts were sourced from Canada, Hong Kong, Japan, Norway, and Saudi Arabia.
Topics:
Contracts | Endowments & Gifts | Grants, Contracts, & Sponsored Research | International Ventures | Research | Taxes & Finances
NACUA Annual Conference
Join us in the Music City June 29 – July 2 to connect, learn, and lead alongside higher education attorneys shaping policy, practice, and impact nationwide together.