Useful Stats: 2005 Federal R&D Obligations Per Capita to Universities and Colleges

At $453.28, the District of Columbia led the nation in federal R&D obligations per capita to colleges and universities in 2005, according to recent National Science Foundation (NSF) report. For the U.S. as a whole, the per capita amount rose 25.8 percent from 2001 to 2005.



The District of Columbia was followed by Maryland ($261.49), Massachusetts ($214.11), California ($136.62), and Hawaii ($133.94) in 2005, based on the NSF data. The national average in 2005 was $84.35 per person. At the other end of the rankings, Puerto Rico experienced the lowest average at $16.29 per capita. This ws followed by Maine ($23.06), West Virginia ($27.27), Oklahoma ($30.97), and Florida ($33.12).



States experiencing the largest increase per capita from 2001 to 2005 were North Dakota at 107.2 percent, Idaho at 67.7 percent, Nevada at 66.5 percent, Hawaii at 61.7 percent, and Louisiana at 59.8 percent.



SSTI has prepared a table illustrating the NSF data for every state, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico for each of the five years from 2001 to 2005. Additionally, the percent change in obligations per capita over the five-year period has been calculated.



“Obligations are the amounts for orders placed, contracts awarded, services received, and similar transactions during a given period, regardless of when the funds were appropriated and when future payment of money is required,” the NSF report states. “Obligations differ from expenditures in that funds allocated by federal agencies during one fiscal year may be spent by the recipient institution either partially or entirely during one or more subsequent years.”



SSTI's table is available at: http://www.ssti.org/Digest/Tables/111407t.htm



Federal Science and Engineering Support to Universities, Colleges, and Nonprofit Institutions: Fiscal Year 2005 is available at: http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/nsf07333/