President Trump said Tuesday that his administration was close to reaching a multimillion-dollar agreement with Harvard University, which would end a monthslong standoff that had come to symbolize the resistance to Mr. Trump’s efforts to reshape higher education.
Harvard, which would become the latest university to strike a deal with the Trump administration, has been seeking an end to a thicket of investigations that the government opened as part of its wide-ranging efforts to bring the university in line with Mr. Trump’s agenda.
“We are in the process of getting very close,” President Trump said in an appearance from the Oval Office. He added that the details were being finalized, and said, “They would be paying about $500 million.”
Harvard did not immediately comment on Mr. Trump’s remarks.
The breakthrough after weeks of stalled negotiations appeared to stem from multiple phone calls to Mr. Trump from Stephen A. Schwarzman, the billionaire chief executive of the Blackstone Group, a massive investment firm that manages more than $1 trillion in assets. Mr. Schwarzman is a graduate of Harvard Business School.
Mr. Schwarzman spoke with Mr. Trump once during the past weekend and again in a phone call on Tuesday, acting as an emissary between the White House and Harvard, according to three people familiar with the conversations.
Mr. Schwarzman’s involvement was an attempt by Harvard to pierce a division inside the administration between advisers eager to deliver a deal for Mr. Trump and more ideologically driven aides who viewed the terms as too favorable to the university.
A spokeswoman for Blackstone did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Mr. Trump’s top priority in the deal has been securing a pledge from Harvard to spend $500 million on work force development programs.
But the president’s haste to announce a settlement on Tuesday privately worried some allies who said the turn of events would make it more difficult to extract additional concessions from the university. Mr. Trump initially told reporters that he had “reached a deal” with Harvard before hedging that a deal was close.
Some Trump advisers have argued behind closed doors that one way to strengthen the agreement would be to subject Harvard to an independent monitor who would ensure compliance. Harvard has consistently opposed that idea.