Increases expected in federal budget
Federal funds could mean more for student aid, research
Archived article from Nov 10, 2000
By Harvey Trabb
Increases in the federal budget already approved for the new fiscal year and others contained in a measure likely to be passed when Congress reconvenes during the week of Nov. 13 will provide more funding for student aid, research and other programs of special interest to Rutgers.
What President Francis L. Lawrence has described as “one of the most exciting and generous packages of federal funding for higher education in history” means that the budgets of several agencies that are key sources of Rutgers research funding will rise by as much as 15 percent. The budgets involved are for the National Science Foundation (NSF), the university research portion of the Department of Defense (DOD), the Department of Energy and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
Congress has also continued funding for Rutgers programs in such areas as agriculture, marine science and transportation, Lawrence said. The president was scheduled to report on these developments at the Board of Governors’ meeting Nov. 10 on the Camden campus.
Lawrence said that another bill, which is yet to be passed, would provide for increased student aid and more funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), a key source of federal dollars for Rutgers. He called on Congress to pass the measure, which would mean an increase in the maximum Pell grant by some $500 per year and a 15 percent budget hike for the NIH. He said the bill is being held in Congress on issues that are not related to either student aid or university research.
“The Pell grant program is the largest federal program targeted to those students from families with an income ranging from the mid-teens to the mid-twenties,” Lawrence said, pointing out that Rutgers students currently receive some $20 million in support through Pell grants each year. “Passage of the pending legislation would increase the maximum award under that program by approximately $500, a major benefit for our neediest students and one that makes a real difference in ensuring their access to higher education,” he said.
The president said that the increases already approved for the budgets of the agencies that fund university research mean the Rutgers faculty will be able to compete for a larger pool of available grant monies during the current academic year. He added that the federal budget includes more that $400 million in new funding for research in information technology, an area in which Rutgers is particularly strong.
“This is important because the success rate of our faculty in getting grants from agencies such as these exceeds 70 percent every year,” Lawrence said. “That is an amazingly high figure that points directly to the quality of the Rutgers faculty and of our research programs.”
Lawrence has been deeply involved in a long-term advocacy program undertaken in Washington to double the federal research budget. He has given testimony before appropriations committees advocating increases in the budgets for the NSF, the DOD and the National Endowment for the Humanities. On those occasions he spoke on behalf of the Association of American Universities (AAU), the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges, and the American Council on Education.
“President Lawrence has provided important leadership for research universities on Capitol Hill this year,” said Nils Hasselmo, president of the AAU. “Through his public statements on our behalf and through numerous meetings with members of Congress, he carried the message that higher education and research are key to the future prosperity of the nation. With his help, that message was heard and Congress provided major funding increases this year for the budgets of the federal agencies that are of greatest importance to research universities.”
Lawrence devoted considerable time meeting with members of the New Jersey delegation and coordinating efforts by members of Rutgers’ governing boards, administrators, faculty, students and alumni to secure the increases in federal funding.
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