Their health costs spiked after thresholds for the Medicare Safety Net and Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) were reset on January 1, reducing the number of households that qualified for the schemes. The U.S. Department of Education informed Harvard on Monday that it was freezing billions of dollars in future research grants and other aid until the university concedes to a number of demands from the Trump administration, a senior department official said.

He also again hit out at the school’s governing board, saying it has become insular and that there is no mechanism to remove members the way there is in corporate America where investors can run board challenges. Harvard responded that the administration letter doubles down on demands that would impose “unprecedented and improper control” over the university and makes new threats to “illegally” withhold funding for lifesaving research. “They have lost all future grants, their tax exemptions are at risk,” Ackman said on a panel at the Milken Institute Global Conference where 5,000 financiers, educators and scientists gather to discuss critical issues of the day.

The financier runs New York-based hedge fund firm Pershing Square Capital Management and has been a vocal supporter of Trump’s policies on tariffs and spending. Harvard is “a collection of buildings, nice real estate” located in Cambridge, Massachusetts next to the Charles River, he said. BEVERLY HILLS, May 6 (Reuters) – Billionaire investor Bill Ackman on Tuesday said Harvard University, one of the nation’s oldest and wealthiest, should not be entitled to taxpayer funds when the school wastes money on what he calls “administrative bloat.” “What happens when you have a board that can self-appoint itself, and it becomes insular, and with a $53 billion endowment, they think, okay, we can just do whatever is on our mind.” (Reporting by Svea Herbst-Bayliss with additional reporting by Gram Slattery and Jarrett Renshaw Editing by Marguerita Choy) Ackman has long been at odds with Harvard, criticizing the university for not doing enough to protect students from antisemitism.

Early last year he launched an unsuccessful bid to get four candidates on the ballot for a governing board. “Rises in pharmaceutical products, medical and hospital services, electricity and fruit and vegetables have contributed to higher living costs for all household types this quarter,” ABS acting head of prices statistics Neel Tikaram said.