Useful Stats: Federal S&E Obligations to Academia, FY 2003–2007

Federal R&D obligations to U.S. universities and colleges between FY 2003 and 2007 did not keep pace with inflation, according to the latest federal data from the National Science Foundation. Obligations were $25.3 billion in FY 2007, an increase of 11.1 percent from FY 2003 totals. The aggregate annual inflation rate for the country was nearly 12.7 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

NSF’s Federal Science and Engineering Support to Universities, Colleges, and Nonprofit Institutions found 40 states experienced an increase in their total federal obligations measured in current dollars over the five-year period. While 28 of the states had a percent increase over the same time period that bested the U.S. average, only 24 states had increases that exceeded the rate of inflation.

New Mexico had the largest percent increase over the five-year period, rising 45.7 percent to $182 million in FY07. Other states increased at least 25 percent from FY03 to FY07: West Virginia, North Dakota, and Tennessee.

SSTI has prepared a table tracking for each state the amount of obligations from FY03 to FY07, the percent change over this period, and the rank of this change. The table is sorted by percent change over the five years and includes the inflation rate to help readers interpret the data. (For instance, it took $112.69 in 2007 to purchase the same goods that cost $100 in 2003).

National Science Foundation’s annual series surveys the 19 federal agencies that account for almost all federal R&D obligations. 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.” This differs from expenditures, which are actual outlays of money spent. Funds may have been obligated to an academic institution during the same fiscal year, the previous year or several years earlier in the case of some multi-year grants.

Federal Science and Engineering Support to Universities, Colleges, and Nonprofit Institutions: FY 2007 is available at: http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/nsf09315/.

SSTI's table presenting Federal S&E Obligations to Academia, by State FY2003-2007 is available at: http://www.ssti.org/Digest/Tables/101409t.htm