Financial Plan - Cornell University Division of Budget & Planning

Tuition, Financial Aid & EndowmentCollege and Graduate School of Medical Sciences havealso increased substantially, though at a steadier pace.Ithaca campus research growth has been driven primarilyby the expansion of federal support for basicscience and engineering studies that has been funneledthrough the National Science Foundation (NSF)and the Department of Defense. The lack of inflationadjustedgrowth in federal and New York State appropriations(a portion of which fund basic and appliedresearch) has offset some of this growth. Almost allgrant and contract support for the Medical Collegecomes from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).While Cornell’s faculty are very effective in garneringa substantial share of federal research support, theuniversity’s market share of overall federal researchand development funding for science and engineeringhas changed over time. (See graph below.) A factor affectingCornell’s success in obtaining federal researchfunding is the U.S. Congress’s growing practice of earmarkingacademic research funding. As reported in theChronicle of Higher Education recently, $1.6 billion “…was directed to scientific research at almost 500 institutions…[representing] about 5 percent of all federalCornell University’s Market Share ofOverall Federal Research and DevelopmentExpenditures in Science and Engineering3.0%Sources of Support for Cornell UniversityResearch Expenditures – 2006-07State & Local11%Commercial4%Foundation/Nonprofit/Other9%Federal58%CornellResources *18%* As per NSF reporting guidelines, Cornell resourcesinclude: institutional cost sharing, graduate assistantshiptuition fellowships, university seed researchgrants, unrecovered facilities and administrativecosts, and the organized research portion of NewYork State-funded employee benefits.money for academic research” in 2007-08. 18 As Cornellgenerally eschews federal earmarks, the universitydoes not effectively compete for this funding source. 19Percent Market Share2.5%2.0%1.5%1.0%0.5%Construction ofthe AreciboFacility0.0%53 57 61 65 69 73 77 81 85 89 93 97 01 05Fiscal Year21Increasingly, Cornell must utilize its own resources tohelp fund the overall research enterprise. In 2006-07,$118 million (18 percent of overall research expenditures)was so dedicated. (See graph above.) These expendituresinclude cost sharing, a portion of the costof tuition for graduate assistantship holders, facilitiesand administrative costs attributable to research thatcannot be recovered from the sponsors of that activity,institutional funding to encourage new research en-18 Brainard, Jeffrey and J.J. Hermes, “Colleges’ EarmarksGrow, Amid Criticism.” The Chronicle of Higher Education(Mar. 28, 2008). http://chronicle.com/weekly/v54/i29/29a00101.htm19 While The Chronicle of Higher Education reported thatCornell benefited from $5.1 million in non-shared earmarksin 2007-08, the total was closer to $4.1 million, according toan analysis conducted by Cornell’s Division of Governmentand Community Relations.