Useful Stats: Federal R&D Obligations to Academia Per Capita, FY 2002-2006

On a per capita basis, R&D obligations from the federal government to U.S. universities and colleges increased by 16 percent from FY 2002 to 2006, rising to $85.30 per person in FY06. Total U.S. federal R&D obligations to academia increased by 17.4 percent over the same five years, suggesting federal R&D did not keep pace with population growth during the period (see the April 15, 2009 issue of the Digest).

Using population to standardize federal obligations to academia on the state level is less than ideal as the data don't have much to do with each other. But it provides a starting point for comparison. Toward that end, SSTI has prepared a table listing the academic obligations per capita from FY 2002 to 2006, the percent change of these obligations per capita over this period, and the relative rank of this change.

The range in per capita figures among the states is significant. At $402.50, the District of Columbia led the nation in federal R&D obligations to academia per capita in 2006. This was followed by Maryland ($300.10), Massachusetts ($230.00), Hawaii ($165.50), and then Connecticut ($137.40). Twenty-four states had per capita academic R&D obligations in 2006 greater than the national average. Maine, Florida, Idaho, Arkansas, and Oklahoma were the states with the lowest per capita values.

South Dakota experienced the largest percentage increase in federal obligations to academia per capita from 2002 to 2006, rising 112.9 percent to $58.40 per person. The states with the largest five-year increases, measured by percentage growth in per capita, include North Dakota, Hawaii, New Mexico, and Montana.

NSF defines obligations as "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. 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/050609t.htm

The data for the table came from the Census Bureau and the NSF's Federal Science and Engineering Support to Universities, Colleges, and Nonprofit Institutions, FY 2006. The later is available at: http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/nsf09310/