Topline
Billionaire Jeff Yass donated $100 million to the University of Austin, the unaccredited “anti-woke” college founded in 2021 by CBS News chief Bari Weiss, marking what the school is calling its largest single donation to date.
Students study at the University of Austin in September.
The Austin American-Statesman via Getty Images
Key Facts
The University of Austin said Yass’ donation was the start of a campaign to raise $300 million, which will be used to fund the college instead of students’ tuition or government subsidies.
Yass told the Wall Street Journal, which first reported the donation Wednesday morning, that he wanted to support separating education from government and reduce the stress for parents saving up for tuition for their children, noting he was “very impressed” by the university’s accomplishments.
The university was co-founded by Weiss, who sold her publication The Free Press to Paramount for a reported $150 million in October and has since been named editor-in-chief of CBS News.
Forbes Valuation
We estimate Yass’ net worth at $65.7 billion, a fortune primarily built through his trading firm Susquehanna International Group. Yass became a Trump donor during the president’s 2024 campaign, and is part of the group of investors primed to take control of TikTok in the United States should President Donald Trump’s deal with China go through.
Key Background
The University of Austin was founded in 2021 by a group that included Weiss, a former New York Times opinion editor who resigned to found digital publication The Free Press, as well as billionaire Trump donor Joe Lonsdale. The university was founded with an explicit anti-censorship and anti-mainstream academia mission, fighting what it refers to as the “rising tide of illiberalism and censoriousness prevalent in America’s universities.” The University of Austin says it does not plan to charge tuition, and does not plan to take “government money” for funding. Instead, the school claims it will rely on donations to fund its programs, betting that its programs will “produce extraordinary graduates” that will provide more donations in the future. The Wall Street Journal reported the school raised $200 billion by 2024, with donors who also included billionaire Len Blavatnik and GOP megadonor Harlan Crow. Yass was reportedly the largest single donor at the time, contributing $35 million.
Tangent
So far, the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board has only approved the school to grant bachelor’s degrees in “liberal studies.” It welcomed its first full-time graduating class in 2024, which consisted of 92 students, Inside Higher Ed reported, and enrolled a second this fall. Because it is unaccredited, it is unlikely University of Austin degree holders will qualify for most postgraduate programs or be able to transfer their credits—but the school says it is working on “agreements” with other institutions to accept its degrees before it is accredited. The school says its accreditation process is ongoing, and expects to finish between 2028 and 2031.