NIH Cuts Absorbable Without Hobbling Research in Higher Education: Policy Experts

Dozens of prestigious universities sounded the alarm after the National Institutes of Health (NIH) capped overhead costs of taxpayer-funded research grants at 15 percent to reduce government spending. These cuts undermine decades of progress in cancer, Alzheimer’s, and diabetes research, higher education officials announced. Jobs will be eliminated, fewer doctorate students will be admitted to top learning institutions, and marginalized communities will suffer, they said. A growing list of elite schools, most of them private and some regular recipients of NIH awards covering 60-plus percent of overhead costs for research projects, issued statements against President Donald Trump’s Feb. 7 directive or joined one of three lawsuits challenging the move. A federal court order temporarily blocked the cuts....