Los Angeles, California - Stanford University plans to axe hundreds of staff due to funding cuts for higher education under President Donald Trump, the latest mass layoff at an elite US college.

The plan announced in late July, which AFP confirmed Wednesday by consulting official documents, follows similar firings at Harvard, Columbia, and Johns Hopkins – all of which have been targeted in the White House's crackdown on top universities.

Trump has wielded federal funds as a negotiating tool for universities that he says are too liberal, insisting that they submit to curriculum, enrollment, and other changes.

The Republican's administration has also decreased or placed holds on spending for university research as part of wider budget cuts since taking office in January.

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Stanford, located just south of San Francisco with some 18,000 staff, said it was making a $140 million reduction in the general funds budget for the upcoming year.

"This is the product of a challenging fiscal environment shaped in large part by federal policy changes affecting higher education," Stanford president Jon Levin and provost Jenny Martinez said in a joint statement.

They added that the job cuts were "difficult actions that affect valued colleagues and friends who have made important contributions to Stanford."

A filing by Stanford with the California state government said 363 employees would be impacted by the layoffs.