Harvard says it won't be returning an $8 million stimulus check, even after Trump demanded it back

• Harvard University has rejected President Donald Trump's demand that it repay an $8 million check it received to help mitigate the impact of the coronavirus.
• "They have to pay it back, I don't like it," the president said Tuesday. "This is meant for workers, this isn't meant for one of the richest institutions."
• Trump also claimed that the university's stimulus grant came from the federal government fund for small businesses.
• Harvard denied this, saying the fund was drawn from one designed for higher education institutions.
• "Harvard has committed that 100% of these emergency higher education funds will be used to provide direct assistance to students facing urgent financial needs due to the COVID-19 pandemic," the university said in a statement.
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Harvard University said on Tuesday it has no plans to return an $8.6 million federal government check it had received to mitigate the financial impact of the coronavirus outbreak — rejecting President Donald Trump's earlier demand that it return the payment.

At Tuesday's White House coronavirus briefing, Trump said that in light of Harvard's $41 billion endowment, he would be seeking a repayment of the stimulus grant, which he suggested came from a federal fund for small businesses.

"I want Harvard to pay that money back, OK? If they won't do that, we won't do something else," said Trump.

"They have to pay it back, I don't like it. This is meant for workers, this isn't meant for one of the richest institutions [...] in the world. They got to pay it back."

In a Tuesday statement, Harvard said the payment would not be used to cover institutional costs, but to help students experiencing "urgent financial needs because of the pandemic."

Harvard also disputed the president's claim that it received the payment through the Payment Protection Program, a fund released by Congress to help small businesses weather the steep economic downturn caused by the pandemic.

—Harvard University (@Harvard) April 21, 2020

Harvard said the money it received was distributed as part of the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund, which is calculated on the basis of how many lower income students are enrolled at an institution.

The Payment Protection Program for small businesses — that was established alongside the higher education relief fund as part of Congress' $2.3 trillion stimulus package — has been beset by controversy. It also ran out of money after two weeks.

While larger companies have received bailouts from the fund, some of the smaller businesses it was designed to help received nothing before the program ran out of money.

The Senate on Tuesday passed an additional $500 billion of funding for small businesses.

The pandemic and ensuing statewide lockdowns and social-distancing measures have devastated American businesses, with 22 million Americans currently unemployed.

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