FY96 Earmarks for University Research
The Chronicle of Higher Education recently released its annual report on funding for university projects that Congress specifically directed federal agencies to support. According to the Chronicle, nearly $299 million was earmarked in FY96 for higher education activities. The FY96 level of earmarks was a significant decrease from the $600 million identified in FY95.
The projects, in which specific universities were named either in appropriations bills or the legislative reports that accompany them, were identified by officials of the agencies or universities involved, or by Congressional aides. The report addresses items for which federal agencies did not request funding or sponsor merit-based competitions (although there were a few projects for which funding was added to projects that had previously been competitively awarded).
There are differences in the way funding was awarded for these projects. In some cases, Congress intended the money to go directly to the university named, although funding was to be shared with other institutions. In other cases, universities were to receive money as subcontractors. Some language calls for federal agencies to conduct research on specified university campuses. Other provisions earmark funding for a consortia of universities.
Listed below is a state-by-state summary of funding for earmarked projects. Funding is attributed to the lead university in those instances where funding was to be shared with others.
Rank State Funding
($O00s)
Rank State Funding
($000s)
1 PA 93,276 12 AK 17,300 2 HI 41,381 13 TX 17,183 3 CA 39,150 14 MS 16,920 4 FL 33,095 15 MD 15,721 5 OR 26,952 16 CT 15,313 6 LA 25,139 17 NY 13,639 7 WI 23,825 18 AL 13,600 8 VA 21,084 19 MI 13,467 9 IL 20,506 20 WA 13,171 10 WV 19,700 21 NJ 13,020 11 NC 18,793 22 IA 11,660
Rank State Funding
($000s)
Rank State Funding
($000s)
23
MT 11,146 37 NE 3,982 24 RI 10,000 38 GA 3,595 25 MD 9,484 39 KS 3,148 26 MN 9,056 40 IN 3,046 27 OK 8,967 41 UT 2,904 28 ND 7,672 42 ID 2,414 29 AZ 7,408 43 SC 1,427 30 AR 5,798 44 CO 839 31 ME 5,192 45 NH 329 32 MO 4,766 45 SD 329 33 KY 4,450 47 WY 212 34 OH 4,227 48 VT 151 35 NM 4,129 49 DE 0 36 TN 4,000 49 NV 0
Source: Chronicle of Higher Education, September 13, 1996