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Amy Li, Associate Professor of Higher Education, Florida International University

Trump’s battle with elite universities overlooks where most students actually go to college

There are nearly 20 million undergraduate college students in the United States. Anadolu/Getty Images

Headlines often mention the ongoing power struggle between President Donald Trump’s administration and private colleges such as Columbia University and Harvard University.

But such elite universities educate only a small portion of America’s total undergraduate population, which stood at 20 million in fall 2024.

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