President Donald Trump is escalating his ongoing battle with Harvard University.
Harvard is one of several universities that have been targeted by the Trump administration, which alleges schools aren’t doing enough to protect Jewish students. Harvard has defied the administration’s orders and filed multiple lawsuits to fight the blowback. On May 27, the New York Times and CNN reported that the Trump administration is poised to cancel the remaining federal contracts with Harvard, worth an estimated $100 million in total.
The fierce fight has led to questions about Trump’s personal history with the university. For example, some have wondered whether Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump’s son Barron Trump, 19, was rejected from the university.
Here is what we know:
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Did Barron Trump get rejected from Harvard?
No. According to the first lady’s office, he didn’t even apply.
“Barron did not apply to Harvard, and any assertion that he, or that anyone on his behalf, applied is completely false,” Nick Clemens, spokesperson for the Office of the First Lady, said in an emailed statement.
Harvard University did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In the months leading up to the 2024 presidential election, the president’s youngest son attended a Florida rally, and then-candidate Donald Trump confirmed Barron Trump’s plan to go to college.
“He’s now going to college, got into every college he wanted to,” Donald Trump said at the July 9, 2024, rally in Doral, Florida. “He made his choice and he is a very good guy.”
Why is Trump fighting with Harvard?
Trump has threatened to withhold funding from several universities in the U.S. if they do not follow federal directives, all under the banner of fighting antisemitism. He has alleged the institutions did not do enough to combat antisemitism during the protests against the war in Gaza, which brought allegations of both antisemitism and Islamaphobia.
Harvard, however, had refused the administration’s orders, which included ending all diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs within the school, hiring an external auditor to review the school’s groups to ensure diverse ideological viewpoints, and update admissions processes to prevent admitting students “hostile to the American values and institutions inscribed in the U.S. Constitution and Declaration of Independence.”
Defying the orders has put billions of dollars worth of federal funding and its tax-exempt status at risk.
The Trump administration also recently attempted to prohibit the school from enrolling international students, which was blocked by a federal judge.
Where is Barron Trump going to college?
Barron Trump recently finished his freshman year at New York University’s Stern School of Business. He’s projected to graduate in class of 2028 from NYU.
Where did President Donald Trump go to college?
President Donald Trump graduated from the Wharton School of Finance and Commerce at the University of Pennsylvania in May 1968 with a degree in economics.
Contributing: Jennifer Sangalang, Antonio Fins, Zachary Schermele, Savannah Kuchar, USA TODAY Network
Kinsey Crowley is the Trump Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach her at kcrowley@gannett.com. Follow her on X and TikTok @kinseycrowley or Bluesky at @kinseycrowley.bsky.social.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Was Barron Trump rejected by Harvard? FLOTUS says no, he didn’t apply.
