Harvard Gets a $36 Million BofA Guarantee That Trump Demanded

The Widener Library on the Harvard Campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Photographer: Cassandra Klos/Bloomberg

Bank of America Corp. provided a letter of credit for Harvard University, a step required by the Trump administration for it to participate in the federal student aid program after officials alleged the US’s richest school is in a position of financial instability.

In September, the Education Department’s Office of Federal Student Aid — which oversees grants and loans to students at universities — placed Harvard on “Heightened Cash Monitoring.” That gives the government additional oversight over an institution’s cash management. Many of the schools on the list are small institutions and vocational schools, including dozens of beauty schools.