Claims that Donald Trump has targeted Harvard and stripped the Ivy League school of $450 million in federal funding are due to the university rejecting Barron Trump’s application. The claims quickly went viral. In the fall of 2024, Trump announced that his youngest son would be attending New York University’s Stern School of Business. Barron’s attending NYU ended a longstanding family tradition of attending Georgetown or the University of Pennsylvania.
Barron Trump’s Claim Goes Viral
Trump’s other children, Donald Jr., Ivanka, Eric, and Tiffany, all attended those elite schools. When Barron Trump chose NYU, the decision stuck out. Online rumors quickly spread that Barron had been rejected by Harvard, Columbia, and Stanford.
The claims quickly went viral on the social media platform X after user James Tate posted, “Guess what colleges didn’t accept Barron Trump? Harvard. Stanford. Columbia. Any college Trump is attacking — are the ones that, with all of his money, they said, ‘no endowment will let him in.’”
Snopes Chimes In
Tate’s X account is verified, and he has 95.3k followers. The popular fact-checking website, Snopes, looked into the claim and was unable to disprove or verify it. In September of 2024, Trump told Megyn Kelly during an interview that Barron Trump “was accepted to a lot of colleges. He’s a very smart guy, and he’ll be going to Stern, the business school, which is a great school at NYU.”
Megyn Kelly Interview
Reportedly, Barron Trump had planned on following in his father’s footsteps and applied to UPenn’s Wharton School of Business. “We’re thinking about that right now,” Donald said while appearing on The Megyn Kelly Show in 2023.
At the time, Megyn Kelly asked, “How do you choose one because they all hate all Republicans, let alone one named Trump?” Melania Trump added, “It was his decision to come here, that he wants to be in New York… and live in his home.
Trump’s current public feud with Harvard, Stanford, and Columbia has fueled the recent claims. Trump’s administration has frozen billions in federal grants to Harvard and has also launched probes into Stanford and Columbia.
Sen. Whitehouse Comments
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse used the X to mock Trump. “Can’t help but wonder how many Trumps got rejected by Harvard,” he wrote. Whitehouse represents the state of Rhode Island and has been a vocal critic of Donald Trump.
Barron Trump grew up in Trump Tower, located in New York. He attended Columbia Grammar and Preparatory School. Last May, Barron Trump graduated from Oxbridge Academy in Palm Beach, Florida. He moved from Mar-a-Lago back to Trump Tower in Manhattan while attending NYU.
