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Carnegie Mellon receives $3 billion from Ken Griffin, funding a new campus in Miami
September 30, 2026
Citadel founder Ken Griffin is giving Carnegie Mellon University $3 billion, with part of the money paying for a new campus in Miami.
Ken Griffin is the founder and chief executive of the hedge fund Citadel, which he moved from Chicago to Miami, and Carnegie Mellon is a university based in Pittsburgh.
CNN reports that Ken Griffin, the hedge fund manager who founded Citadel, announced on Wednesday a $3 billion donation to Carnegie Mellon University, much of it for a new campus in Miami. According to CNN, the university's press release puts the finished Miami campus at a capacity above 3,500 students across bachelor's, master's and doctoral study, and says it will group learning by societal challenges instead of conventional majors. The New York Times carries the same gift and adds that the rest of the money goes to Pittsburgh, where half of that share is set aside for the School of Computer Science, which will carry Griffin's name. The Times also reports that Griffin is joining the university's board.
The New York Times describes the sum as larger than any earlier gift to an American university, ahead of the $2 billion Phil Knight and his wife gave Oregon Health & Science University. The Times reports that the university announced the gift after more than two years of private talks. Mr. Griffin raised the Harvard comparison himself, saying "Is this a repudiation of Harvard?" and then telling the Times he expects to keep supporting Harvard for decades. CNN places the gift inside Griffin's wider turn toward Florida, including the move of Citadel's headquarters from Chicago, and notes his dispute with Zohran Mamdani, whose video Griffin called "creepy and weird."
The two outlets agree on the amount, the recipient and the Miami campus. What the donation will mean for tuition, which the Times puts near $70,000 a year, is still developing, because Farnam Jahanian, the university's president, signaled an affordability aim without giving details.
Still developing
What is known about the more affordable education Jahanian announced was still coming in at the time of this draft.
How settled the reporting is
Sources
- CNN — Hedge fund CEO Ken Griffin donates $3 billion to Carnegie Mellon as part of his bet on Florida
- The New York Times — Donor Gives $3 Billion to Carnegie Mellon, the Largest University Gift Ever - The New York Times
Toggle read the full reports of 2 of the 4 outlets counted on this event. The other 2 are counted from their headlines and opening sentences.