Finances of Research Universities

This paper, published by COGR in June 2014, provides an in-depth analysis of the financial structure and challenges faced by research universities in the United States. It explores the evolving revenue streams and expenditures of public and private research universities, highlighting the shift from state appropriations to greater dependence on federal research funding, tuition, private gifts, and endowment income, and details the significant and growing institutional contributions—both direct and indirect—that universities make to research, often due to partial reimbursement policies, capped administrative cost recovery, and increasing regulatory compliance requirements. The paper emphasizes the critical role of the government-university partnership in sustaining the country's research enterprise, warning that continued financial imbalances and insufficient reimbursement for the true costs of research threaten the viability of U.S. research universities and calling for renewed collaboration and policy reforms to ensure their future competitiveness and capacity.