The following is a statement from the Association of American Universities (AAU), Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU), and the American Council on Education (ACE):
On Friday, February 7, 2025, the administration declared that it would cut funding for life-saving medical research. Its announcement that it would limit Facilities and Administrative (F&A) reimbursements to a 15% rate for all NIH research grants would have an immediate and dire impact on critical biomedical and health research nationwide. F&A costs are the real and necessary costs of conducting the groundbreaking research that has led to so many medical breakthroughs over the past decades. A cut to F&A for NIH grants is a cut to the medical research that helps countless American families whose loved ones face incurable diseases or untreatable debilitating conditions.
Besides harming the ability of research universities to continue doing critical NIH research that seeks out new and more effective approaches to treating cancer, heart disease, and dementia, among others, and translating basic science into cures, this cut would also undermine universities’ essential training of the next generation of biomedical and health science researchers. The loss of this American workforce pipeline would be a blow to the U.S. economy, to American science and innovation, to patients and their families, and to our nation’s position in the world as a leader in medical research.
It would be, quite simply, a self-inflicted wound.
Today we have jointly filed suit in United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts, along with a number of impacted research university co-plaintiffs, seeking to halt the proposed cut. Besides its devastating impact on medical research and training, the proposed actions run afoul of the longstanding regulatory frameworks governing federal grants and foundational principles of administrative law. Judicial relief is amply justified and urgently needed. This action is ill-conceived and self-defeating for both America’s patients and their families as well as the nation as a whole. We look forward to presenting our case in court.
Founded in 1900, the Association of American Universities is composed of America’s leading research universities. AAU’s 69 U.S. research universities transform lives through education, research, and innovation.
Our member universities earn the majority of competitively awarded federal funding for research that improves public health, seeks to address national challenges, and contributes significantly to our economic strength, while educating and training tomorrow’s visionary leaders and innovators.
AAU member universities collectively help shape policy for higher education, science, and innovation; promote best practices in undergraduate and graduate education; and strengthen the contributions of leading research universities to American society.
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