AAU closely monitors and advocates for the budgets of federal agencies that are the primary funders of student financial aid and higher education programs, faculty scholarship, and basic scientific research that are vital to innovation and our nation’s economic competitiveness and national security.
Included in this section is budget information about education and research programs at:
AFRI DOD DOE ED NASA NEH NIH NSF
See Also: Appropriations Tables, Innovation & Competitiveness, and Reducing Regulatory Burden.
Former NSF Directors and NSB Chairs warn Congress that proposed budget and staffing cuts would undermine U.S. scientific leadership and urge a major increase in NSF funding to secure America's global competitiveness, innovation, and prosperity.
AAU has issued a statement regarding provisions slashing research funding in the newly released FY26 Presidential Budget Request.
Agency Budgets | Federal Budget | Press Releases | National Institutes of Health | National Science Foundation | Department of Defense | Department of Energy
The Coalition for Aerospace and Science (CAS) requests Congress appropriate at least $27.18 billion for NASA in fiscal Year 2026, a vital increase to maintain development of ongoing missions while initiating work on new groundbreaking endeavors.
Agency Budgets | FY26 | Letters | NASA
AAU has provided recommendations to the Trump Administration to advance U.S. leadership in science, technology, research, and higher education.
Agency Budgets | Federal Budget | Affordability and Student Aid | Science & Security | Intellectual Property | Higher Education Regulation
AAU joined ACE and seventeen other higher education associations to send a letter to Senate and House Armed Services Committee leaders offering comments on provisions being considered for the FY 2025 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).
Agency Budgets | Letters | Science & Security | Department of Defense | Innovation and Competitiveness
Department of Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin sent a letter to Senate Committee on Armed Services Chairman Jack Reed expressing concerns about provisions in the House and Senate NDAA.
AAU and APLU submitted a joint letter addressed to the leadership of the House and Senate Armed Services Committees expressing their concerns and recommendations regarding the Fiscal Year 2025 (FY25) National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).
Agency Budgets | Letters | Science & Security | Department of Defense | Innovation and Competitiveness
The Coalition for National Security Research (CNSR), of which AAU is a member, sent an FY 2025 NDAA Conference Letter outlining coalition priorities to the Hill.
Consequently, AAU is pleased to see the authors of the Spectrum and National Security Act of 2024 (S.4207) have recognized the need to enhance our national innovation capacity by directing some revenues to fund research and infrastructure at NSF and NIST to achieve funding levels previously authorized by Congress.
While AAU would have liked to have seen an increase in NIH funding in FY24, we are pleased that Congress will soon be able to avoid a year-long continuing resolution which will ensure that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) can continue to fund new promising research projects.
Agency Budgets | Student Aid | Federal Budget | Affordability and Student Aid | Press Releases | National Institutes of Health