January 1, Federal Grants Feed College Bureaucracy, Bloat Soars

Wyatt’s Take

• Universities pocket up to 70 cents per federal research dollar for overhead.
• Money meant for science funds DEI programs, deans, and hidden administration.
• Trump’s push to lower overhead faces fierce resistance from colleges.

When Uncle Sam gives grants to colleges for science, a big chunk doesn’t go to research at all. A new report says up to 70% extra gets tacked on for “overhead”—that means stuff like DEI, hiring more deans, and programs that have nothing to do with the actual science.

Right now, colleges rake in 50 to 70% more per grant, which balloons the cost for taxpayers and pads college budgets. There’s no public breakdown for where all this overhead cash goes, and watchdogs call it a “black box.”

The Trump administration tried to cut the overhead rate to 15%, but universities sued, and the courts put it on ice. Meanwhile, schools like University of Michigan-Ann Arbor grabbed billions in federal grants and sent hundreds of millions to administration, not the scientists. In that time, Michigan’s DEI staff exploded from 27 to 179.

One school got a $2.5 million grant for a middle school “anti-racism” curriculum, with over $1.1 million kicked back for overhead. Rutgers pulled in $3.8 billion from Washington and burned well over a billion on non-teaching staff. The push for grants means colleges chase money, even if the science is shaky—only 46% of recent cancer studies were able to be repeated by other researchers.

This system isn’t about discovery as much as revenue. As one group said, administrations use scientists as a way to generate cash, not true breakthroughs.

Last year, $60 billion in tax dollars went to universities, and over a third diverted for overhead. If that rate dropped to 15%, it could free up $14 billion for actual research or be returned to taxpayers.

Congress made “broader impacts” part of grants, forcing schools to add DEI and PR work. Projects came with slush funds for recruiting favored groups or promoting political programs, hidden inside the science budget. At UNC-Chapel Hill, even a simple chemistry grant sent money towards LGBTQ+ programming.

The real science money shrinks while mandated projects grow, all under the radar. Some grants keep these mandates despite efforts to block them. Universities aren’t eager for change and would rather keep the details about overhead secret.

It’s colleges, not taxpayers, who drain the science pot for politics, say the watchdogs. They call it a secret tax and say that if universities want trust back, they need to show where the money actually goes.

Read more here

Wyatt Matters

Working families pay the price when taxpayer dollars set aside for science get lost in college bureaucracy and activist programs. Folks in the heartland want their money going to real research, not hidden agendas or campus paperwork.