Leading Research Universities Report

The Student Aid Alliance, a coalition of more than 40 higher education organizations, recently held a briefing on Capitol Hill to remind policymakers about how crucial federal student aid is to millions of American students and their families. AAU is on the Student Aid Alliance’s steering committee and helped organize and plan the event.

Many AAU members were top recipients of patents granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

The Columbia announcement represents an escalation in the administration’s effort to cut federal funding – including research funding – to universities as punishment for what the administration claims is their failure to respond adequately to antisemitism.

AAU members and other research universities are using their platforms to highlight the real-world impacts of their research.

Every $1 spent by the National Institutes of Health in research funding in FY24 generated $2.56 of economic activity, according to a new report by United for Medical Research.

Seven AAU member universities will receive resources and funding from OpenAI to support the discovery and development of new applications for AI.

A new “report card” from the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute offers mixed grades on the “health, effectiveness, and resilience” of the United States’ national security innovation ecosystem and notes that slow growth in government funding for research and development is partially to blame.

On February 26, a bipartisan group of 201 lawmakers, led by Rep. Sylvia Garcia (D-TX), reintroduced the American Dream and Promise Act of 2025 in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Several AAU institutions were among the top producers of Fulbright recipients for 2024-2025.

Recent executive actions signal a forceful effort by the administration to cut government spending, scale back the federal workforce, and reduce the federal real estate footprint nationally, but particularly in Washington.