For the first time since revealing last week that the Trump administration began freezing its federal research funding, the University of California, Los Angeles has put a number on how much is at stake.
And it’s far bigger than previously thought.
“Currently, a total of approximately $584 million in extramural award funding is suspended and at risk,” Chancellor Julio Frenk wrote Wednesday to the university community. “If these funds remain suspended, it will be devastating for UCLA and for Americans across the nation.”
The extent of UCLA’s financial challenge comes as the Trump administration – citing a wish to quell what it describes as rampant antisemitism on US campuses – has inked deals with several prominent universities, including Columbia, which agreed to give the White House “relevant data” on hiring and admissions, “strengthen oversight of international students” and have an independent monitor oversee the agreement.
While UCLA and the Trump administration previously declined to give a specific figure publicly for the amount of federal research money frozen, it was “greater than $300 million,” documents given to the Los Angeles Times on Friday showed.
Frenk’s acknowledgment of the size of the funding freeze comes two days after a town hall with faculty and staff to discuss the financial threat that the university says drew more than 3,000 attendees.
“We are doing everything we can to protect the interests of faculty, students and staff – and to defend our values and principles,” Frenk wrote.
UCLA’s grants were suspended by agencies including the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy and the National Institutes of Health.
“We will not fund institutions that promote antisemitism,” a spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services told CNN last week. “We will use every tool we have to ensure institutions follow the law.”
UCLA in March launched its own Initiative to Combat Antisemitism and last week settled a lawsuit that accused the university of letting Jewish students get targeted and harassed during 2024 pro-Palestinian protests on campus.
Still, the university continues to be the target of an antisemitism investigation by the Department of Justice.
“Jewish and Israeli students at UCLA were subjected to severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive harassment that created a hostile environment by members of the encampment,” said a notice from the Civil Rights Division, asking for a “voluntary resolution” with the school.
Both Columbia and Brown universities recently signed settlements with the Trump administration to restore federal grants blocked over similar claims, restoring hundreds of millions of dollars to those institutions.
Harvard, which saw more than $2 billion in government funds frozen this year, is battling the Trump administration in court. The nation’s oldest and wealthiest university awaits a judge’s decision on whether the White House should be forced to release the money while also reportedly discussing its own settlement options.
UCLA is keeping its options open for how to respond to the loss of funding, Frenk said.
“The UC Board of Regents and the UC Office of the President are providing counsel as we actively evaluate our best course of action,” the chancellor said.
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