Universities targeted by Trump have more than doubled their spending on lobbying in the last year

President Donald Trump’s administration has taken aim at a series of elite colleges and universities during his second term, marking a key effort to exert control over higher education — and one that has required targeted schools to respond accordingly.

While the schools targeted with canceled federal funding have responded with varying levels of what some see as capitulation or pushback, they have also adopted a quieter defense strategy — spending millions of dollars to hire Trump-allied lobbyists and lobbying firms in Washington.

A CNN analysis of federal lobbying disclosures found that Trump’s higher education targets have together spent 122% more in lobbying expenses in Q2 of this year compared with last year. Nine of the 14 institutions more than doubled their spending since