Useful Stats: 2003 Federal S&E Obligations to Universities and Colleges, by State

The federal government distributed $26.7 billion to universities in the U.S. in fiscal year 2003 - a 9.4 percent increase from the FY 2002 total of $24.4 billion, a recently released National Science Foundation report reveals. Federal Science and Engineering Support to Universities, Colleges, and Nonprofit Institutions: Fiscal Year 2003 details federal science & engineering (S&E) activities to the nation's institutions of higher education.



The NSF report divides federal S&E obligations to universities into six categories: R&D; R&D plant; facilities and equipment for S&E instruction; fellowships, traineeships and training grants; general support for S&E; and other S&E activities.



Using NSF data, SSTI has prepared a table showing the state rankings for the percent change from 1999-2003 for total federal academic S&E obligations. Nationally, federal S&E obligations grew by 47.61 percent over the five years. South Dakota saw the largest increase with 112.25 percent, followed by Hawaii (89.24 percent), Kentucky (84.72 percent), Idaho (82.05 percent) and Vermont (80.39 percent).



On the other end of the spectrum, the District of Columbia showed an increase of 10.46 percent - the lowest in the nation - and New Mexico (24.41 percent), Arizona (29.79 percent), Arkansas (29.99 percent) and Colorado (31.06 percent) rounded off the bottom five.



SSTI's table is available at: http://www.ssti.org/Digest/Tables/061906t.htm



Also available is a table presenting federal S&E obligations to universities from 1998-2002: http://www.ssti.org/Digest/Tables/032105t.htm



Federal Science and Engineering Support to Universities, Colleges, and Nonprofit Institutions: Fiscal Year 2003 is available at: http://www.nsf.gov/publications/pub_summ.jsp?ods_key=nsf06309