Harvard Legal Fees Surged to $126 Million in Fiscal Year 2025, Tax Filings Show

Harvard spent more than $126 million on legal fees in fiscal year 2025, a sharp increase from the previous year as the University battled the Trump administration in court over federal research funding and international student enrollment.

Harvard reported $126.6 million in legal fees in its Form 990 filing released Friday, up from roughly $80 million in fiscal year 2024 — a 58 percent increase.

The spike marks a dramatic rise from recent years, when Harvard’s legal expenses hovered around $20 million. The University spent $19.5 million on legal fees in fiscal year 2023 and $20 million in fiscal year 2022.

The total is reflected in Harvard’s Form 990 filing for fiscal year 2025, which ran from July 1, 2024, to June 30, 2025, and includes program service, management and general, and fundraising expenses.

The rising legal costs were also referenced in Harvard’s annual financial report, which said “all other expenses” — including the cost of supplies and services — increased 5 percent, or $105 million, driven primarily by legal costs and continued investments in technology infrastructure and academic resources.

The heightened legal expenses came as Harvard faced broad financial pressures, with University officials warning that costs across Harvard are rising faster than revenues. Harvard reported an operating loss of $113 million in fiscal year 2025 — its first budget deficit since the pandemic — on $6.7 billion in total revenue.

Harvard has been at legal odds with the White House since the spring, when the Trump administration conditioned billions of dollars in federal funding on a list of demands to the University. When Harvard rejected the conditions, the administration froze $2.2 billion in federal funding, prompting Harvard to sue nearly a dozen federal agencies and their leaders.

A federal judge struck down the funding freeze in September, ruling that the Trump administration acted unlawfully when it cut Harvard’s research grants. The ruling marked a major legal victory for Harvard, and while most of the funding has been restored, the administration appealed the decision in December.

The University has also been at the center of a legal dispute with the Department of Homeland Security, which moved in May 2025 to revoke Harvard’s ability to enroll international students under the Student and Exchange Visitor Program. Harvard sued the federal government, and a judge quickly blocked the administration from enforcing the move.

The legal fees reported in the filing capture only the early months of Harvard’s escalating fight with the Trump administration. Later lawsuits — including two filed by the Department of Justice this year — will not be reflected until future filings.

The Department of Justice sued Harvard in February, seeking to force the University to turn over admissions records requested as part of a federal civil rights review into whether Harvard is complying with the Supreme Court’s 2023 ruling striking down race-conscious admissions.

The DOJ sued Harvard again in March, alleging that the University violated federal civil rights law by failing to protect Jewish and Israeli students from harassment on campus. The complaint seeks to compel Harvard to comply with Title VI and recover taxpayer funds the University received while allegedly in violation of federal law.

—Staff writer Megan L. Blonigen can be reached at [email protected] and on Signal at megblon.50. Follow her on X at @MeganBlonigen.