On Oct. 1, the White House sent letters to nine colleges containing and offer that President Donald Trump doesn’t want the schools to refuse: pledge support for Trump’s agenda, and get perks in return. The deal, known as the “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education,” has brought up a ton of questions as college leadership officials weigh their options. Which colleges got Trump’s university compact offer? Which ones will agree to it? What does the compact even entail? What will happen if colleges refuse?
According to the New York Times, the compact is 10 pages long, and explains the Trump administration’s goals for higher education. If colleges agree to the compact, they will agree to keeping tuition costs the same for the next five years, limiting the number of international students who are allowed to enroll, committing to strict definitions of gender, and changing their regulations to ban any behavior that would “punish, belittle and even spark violence against conservative ideas” (though exactly what that means is unclear).
So, what’s in it for the schools to agree to something like this? “Multiple positive benefits,” the letter stated, including preferential funding. Those who sign the compact will also be considered to be in accordance with federal civil rights laws (under which many colleges have been investigated and penalized since Trump’s second term began). Schools will also reportedly receive invitations to White House events. It’s not clear what could happen if schools refuse to sign.
Which schools were offered the deal?
The letter went to some of the most prominent public and private universities in the country, including the University of Arizona, Brown University, Dartmouth College, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Southern California, the University of Texas, Vanderbilt University, and the University of Virginia.
According to the New York Times, the compact could end up being extended to even more colleges — potentially even all of them. Inside Higher Ed reports that the White House is reportedly open to “limited” feedback from colleges about the compact by Oct. 20, before schools will be encouraged to sign.
Will colleges sign Trump’s university compact?
Most of these schools initially declined to comment on the letter, but a rep for UT was quick to speak up. “The University of Texas system is honored that our flagship — the University of Texas at Austin — has been named as one of only nine institutions in the U.S. selected by the Trump administration for potential funding advantages under its new Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education,” Kevin P. Eltife, UT’s Board of Regents chairman, said in a statement on Oct. 2. “We enthusiastically look forward to engaging with university officials and reviewing the compact immediately.”
On Oct. 3, Dartmouth president Sian Leah Beilock responded to the compact in a campus-wide email. “I am deeply committed to Dartmouth’s academic mission and values and will always defend our fierce independence,” she wrote. “You have often heard me say that higher education is not perfect and that we can do better. At the same time, we will never compromise our academic freedom and our ability to govern ourselves.” Other schools’ officials have acknowledged receiving the compact, but none have shared whether they plan to move forward with it.
However, many students, faculty, and government officials have been highly outspoken against the compact. California Gov. Gavin Newsom threatened to pull funding from any school in the state that signs the compact. “If any California university signs this radical agreement, they’ll lose billions in state funding — including Cal grants — instantly,” he said in an Oct. 2 statement. “California will not bankroll schools that sell out their students, professors, researchers, and surrender academic freedom.”
After threatening to withhold money from California colleges that sign Trump’s compact, Gov. Newsom says colleges “don’t have a choice”.
“What’s the point of the University, of all of this, if we don’t have academic freedom?” pic.twitter.com/o1gpteh5bt
— Ashley Zavala (@ZavalaA) October 3, 2025
Faculty groups at UVA have also been clear on their anti-compact stance. “We ask that the interim president, the rector, and board of visitors refuse to discuss joining the compact offered by the federal government,” the College and Graduate School of Arts and Sciences wrote in a statement. “Contents of the compact include matters of best practices in higher education with which we are always engaged.”
There is also a petition going around across schools in which students, alums, and staff are calling on schools to reject the compact. “This compact directly undermines our right to academic freedom and goes against every democratic principle our country and our schools should uphold,” the petition reads in part. “We reject the Trump administration’s attempt to cajole universities into compliance through explicit bribery. Extorting our universities to comply with ideological demands and quell freedom of speech is not only anti-democratic; it threatens our ability to teach and study freely, and thus the very bedrock of academia in the United States of America.”