President Trump joined mounting criticism of Harvard on Tuesday, saying the richest university in the country would pay back $8.6 million in relief money from a coronavirus stimulus package that the president himself signed last month.

“Harvard’s going to pay back the money,” Trump said at his evening news briefing, adding, “They have one of the largest endowments anywhere in the country, maybe in the world, I guess, and they’re going to pay back that money.”

But the President appeared to conflate the source of the funds allocated to Harvard with a set of federal loans meant for small businesses, and the university said it would keep the money and distribute it entirely to students in need. The education department said the formula for distributing the aid package to universities was set by Congress and cannot be altered.

The $2 trillion relief package signed by Trump on March 27 included $14 billion for higher education. Colleges and universities have taken a significant hit from shutting down their campuses, refunding room and board to students, and losing other revenue streams, including spring athletic events.

The education department announced that thousands of universities and colleges, both public and private, would receive assistance. The recipients ranged from the Ivy League to beauty schools, and the money was divided up based on a formula taking into account the size and income level of the student body.

About half of the relief money received by universities is supposed to be given to students as emergency cash grants, and the other half is meant to make up for revenue losses and costs related to the pandemic.

The amount Harvard received was in line with comparable universities. Among Ivy League schools, Cornell and Columbia received more, at roughly $12.8 million each.