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Trump not happy over Harvard receiving millions in coronavirus aid, wants it back

Trump not happy over Harvard receiving millions in coronavirus aid, wants it back

Harvard University

United States President Donald Trump has insisted that Harvard, the world's wealthiest university, pay back millions it received under a massive government stimulus package meant to cushion the economy from the coronavirus pandemic.

"Harvard, you pay that money back. I want Harvard to pay the money back, okay? And if they don't do that, then we'll do something else," Trump said at his daily briefing on the pandemic on Tuesday.

"I don't like it at all. This is meant for workers. This isn't meant for one of the richest institutions ... In the world," the president continued.

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The Cambridge, Massachusetts-based university, to this end, tweeted it was allocated USD 8.6 million as part of the historic USD 2.2 trillion package passed last month to stimulate the collapsing US economy.

It said 100 per cent of the funds would be given to students "facing urgent financial needs due to the COVID-19 pandemic", and stressed that the money did not fall under the Paycheck Protection Programme for small business relief.

The Department of Education was to receive USD 30.8 billion to support schools and universities, which are closed across the country, under the stimulus package.

The Harvard Crimson reported on Tuesday that the university's endowment, the largest of any in the world, was last valued in 2019 at USD 40.9 billion -- though it cited administrators as saying that may have declined to the "mid 30-billion range" as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.