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Colleges spent a substantial portion of their endowment funds on scholarships and groundbreaking research in FY25 despite declining returns on the funds and fewer donations, according to the latest NACUBO-Commonfund Study of Endowments.
A widely recognized list of researchers who are most often cited by their peers shows that the United States, powered by scientists at America’s research universities, continues to produce more highly cited researchers than any other nation. However, U.S. dominance is eroding as China rapidly gains ground.
Small business and intellectual property advocates pressed Congress to protect the Bayh-Dole Act and reauthorize the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) federal grant programs, at a Capitol Hill panel on February 4.
The bills fund most scientific research agencies at much higher levels than President Trump proposed in his FY26 budget request, avoiding the draconian cuts to federal research funding that many in the scientific community had feared.
The Fulbright Program recognized the higher education institutions in the United States that produced the most Fulbright students and scholars last year – AAU member institutions again lead the list.
Last December, AAU submitted a response to a request for information by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) on steps and actions the Trump administration could take to accelerate the American scientific enterprise and enable groundbreaking discoveries.
On January 27, the Department of Energy announced that, because of the signing of the FY26 Energy-Water spending bill into law, “the Policy Flashes related to adjusting indirect rates … are no longer in effect.” The bill requires DOE to apply negotiated indirect cost rates as they were applied in FY24.
Costs of Research (F&A Costs) | Leading Research Universities Report | Research Administration & Regulation
In 2025, hundreds of lawsuits were filed against the Trump administration challenging policies that tested the limits of executive power, many of which directly or indirectly affect the nation’s higher education system and the scientific research enterprise, including colleges and universities’ ability to: enroll students; conduct research vital to our nation’s health, security, and economy; and manage their faculty, staff, and curriculum.
On January 20, AAU and 22 other higher education organizations (led by the American Council on Education) submitted a friend-of-the-court brief urging the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to uphold a lower court’s decision to block President Trump’s effort to prevent Harvard University from enrolling international students.
On Thursday night, the House passed the final four spending bills for FY26: Defense, Labor-HHS-Education, Transportation-HUD, and Homeland Security. The four bills will now be bundled together with the FY26 Financial Services General Government and National Security-State bills, which the House passed last week, into a six-bill minibus that will be sent over to the Senate.