President Donald Trump on Oct. 1 offered some of the most prestigious public and private U.S. universities preferred consideration for federal funding, a White House official confirmed to The Epoch Times.

To qualify, the institutions needed to agree to a series of terms that include limiting the number of international students, freezing tuition rates for five years, and banning preference by race or gender in admissions and hiring.

The 10-point memo, first obtained and reported by The Wall Street Journal, is aimed at combating liberal influence in higher education.

It was sent to the University of Arizona, Vanderbilt University, Dartmouth College, Brown University, the University of Virginia, the University of Southern California, the University of Pennsylvania, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the University of Texas, the official said.

“To advance the national interest arising out of this unique relationship, this Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education represents the priorities of the U.S. government in its engagements with universities that benefit from the relationship,” the memo states.

The memo also noted that university applicants must take the SAT entrance exam, a requirement that has been relaxed at several higher education institutions in recent years.

It said that grade inflation is discouraged and that international undergraduate enrollment should be capped at 15 percent.

The memo was sent two days after Trump announced that he was close to a deal in which Harvard University would spend $500 million on trade school programs that would include instruction on artificial intelligence.

The two sides have been locked in a legal battle after the federal government froze billions in grants to the Ivy League school, accusing the campus of anti-Semitism and continued diversity, equity, and inclusion practices that violated federal civil rights laws.

The memo has not yet been posted or announced on the White House or Department of Education websites.

Education Secretary Linda McMahon recently announced a federal initiative promoting civic and patriotic education.

This is not the first time that Trump has put conditions on federal funding in his dealings with higher education institutions.

Columbia University, which was also cited for campus anti-Semitism, previously agreed to an extended list of terms that include better security, reforms to the student discipline process, a review of its Middle Eastern studies program, a commitment to viewpoint diversity, a mask ban, and student identification requirements for campus protests.

The University of Pennsylvania, which acknowledged Title IX violations in previously allowing a biological male identifying as female to compete on the women’s swimming team, where he won a national title, was told to revoke that swimmer’s titles and records and issue a personal apology to the women he competed against.

Emel Akan contributed to this report.