Qatar more than tripled its funding of U.S. colleges and universities between 2024 and 2025 after becoming the largest foreign financier of higher education in the United States in 2022, according to Department of Education disclosure records . The Gulf state increased its funding from $396 million in 2024 to $1.2 billion in 2025 in an unprecedented year-over-year spike, the data show. The surge coincides with Qatar’s expanded lobbying and influence-buying efforts, and indicates that it has no