Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has moved to bar the use of military tuition assistance at dozens of top universities, according to a CNN report. A preliminary list compiled by the U.S. Army classifies Cornell as being at “moderate to high risk” of losing eligibility due to alleged “bias” against the military.
Military tuition assistance provides service members up to $4,500 a year to help cover the costs of graduate-level education. The Tuition Assistance Top-Up program then works to bridge the gap, covering the remaining tuition costs that exceed $4,500 at more expensive universities. More than 230,000 service members utilize the assistance provided by these programs.
If Hegseth’s policy is enacted, military service members will be unable to receive tuition assistance from the Pentagon to pursue their higher education at any graduate-level programs offered by Cornell or other top universities.
The list produced by the Army includes all Ivy League Schools except Dartmouth, along with other top universities including Massachusetts Institute of Technology, New York University, Stanford, Duke, Vanderbilt and nearly 30 others, including a school in London.
The discussion regarding these universities was preceded by a memo released by Hegseth on Feb. 6, which cut ties between the Pentagon and Harvard University for the 2026-2027 academic year. Going forward, the Department of War will no longer fund any graduate-level military education, fellowships or certificate programs in conjunction with Harvard.
Following Hegseth’s announcement, the military was ordered to examine “all existing graduate programs at Ivy-League universities and any other universities that similarly diminish critical thinking and have significant adversary involvement” with the Chinese Communist Party.
Additionally, the military was told to determine whether these programs “deliver cost-effective strategic education for future senior leaders when compared to public universities and military masters’ programs,” a source familiar with the memo told CNN.
In a video made public on Feb. 6, Hegseth elaborated on the reasons to discontinue relationships with Harvard and other Ivy League institutions.
“Too many of [the military’s] officers come back looking too much like Harvard, [with] heads full of globalist and radical ideologies that do not improve our fighting ranks,” Hegseth said in the video. “The Ivy league as a whole has pervasive institutional bias and a lack of viewpoint diversity.”
Hegseth said that the Army, Navy and Airforce would evaluate graduate programs at all Ivy League and similar universities. So far, the U.S. Army is the only branch announced to have made their evaluation of these graduate programs.
He concluded the announcement by stating, “We train warriors, not wokesters.”
Hegseth’s crack-down on tuition assistance follows funding cuts under the Trump administration to Cornell and top universities across the U.S., most of which are also included in the Army’s list. Cornell and other Ivy League schools have since reached agreements with the Trump administration to restore funding to their academic programs and research.
When asked whether the University has been in communication with the Department of War or if they have a response to Hegseth’s comments about Ivy League universities, a Cornell spokesperson responded that “Cornell University has proudly educated active-duty military and veterans since its founding and is the only Ivy League institution designated a Purple Heart University for supporting veterans injured in combat,” in an email statement to The Sun.
“In addition to a robust ROTC program, Cornell educates active-duty officers pursuing graduate business, law and engineering degrees with financial support from their branches of the military,” the spokesperson wrote. “We look forward to continuing this important relationship.”
Madeleine Naumoff is a member of the Class of 2028 in the School of Industrial and Labor Relations. She is a contributor for the News department and can be reached at mn635@cornell.edu.
