United States spending, a federal database that compiles most federal spending, shows that UC San Diego has received around $ 71 million in indirect cost reimbursements in federal sources during the budgetary year 2024-25, but a statement from the university indicates that this figure underestimates the total risky amount under the cuts imposed by the National Institutes of Health.
In an email sent on Thursday, the UCSD administration said that the campus had to lose “much more than $ 100 million”, an amount that would affect “our ability to provide specialized laboratory space, equipment, equipment, equipment IT support, public services and other critical infrastructure necessary to conduct life – save research and innovation. »»
On February 7, the Office of the Director of NIH told more than 2,500 organizations which should receive more than $ 30 billion in subsidies this year that auxiliary payments, often called “installations and administration”, will be immediately reduced to 15% , an amount which, according to which is considerably lower than those negotiated by research institutions. In the case of the UCSD, the indirect cost rate on the campus is 58% for the current financial year, increasing at 59% during the year 2027, according to the University Budget website. Research excluding campus has a significantly lower reimbursement rate at 26%.
A university representative confirmed this week that the UCSD does not receive full reimbursement of indirect costs of 58% for research on the campus today because the rates on individual subsidies vary. But an average rate for all current subsidies was not immediately available.
The reduction caused immediate prosecution, one of the general prosecutors by 22 on February 10 and another from the Association of American Medical Colleges on the same day. A judge of the district court immediately granted a temporary prohibition order on the same day, preventing the cuts from taking effect before a hearing on February 21, although it is not clear if the Trump administration intends to ‘honor legal edicts. The news has surfaced this week that a previous judicial stay on a federal gel of grant funds was not respected.
It is clear that to move forward with the reduction in the financing of the NIH, would reach UCSD, the largest research organization in the region, the hardest. The campus received nearly $ 600 million in federal awards during 2024 Government’s budgetary year, which takes place from October 1, 2023 to September 30, 2024.
The UC Regent Richard Leib, a resident of San Diego appointed by Governor Jerry Brown in 2016, described the reduction in indirect costs of “a real threat to our university”.
“If we try to be n ° 1, this is how you do it, thanks to research,” said Leib. “In my opinion, this in a way takes (from) what we are trying to do by being a leader in all these scientific fields.”
“Especially at the moment, with (artificial intelligence), so much happens, (research) is almost on steroids. Whatever we can do to try to stop this, I think it would be good for the community of San Diego. »»
Leib said the regents have not yet fully assessed how the University of California would modify its research operations if the courts allowed the 15% reduction to stay or if the Trump administration ignores a court order to retreat.
Private research foundations obtain large percentages of their annual budgets from charity donations, but still count on important subsidies from federal agencies, and in particular the National Institutes of Health.
David Brenner, president of Sanford Burnham Prebys, one of the first biomedical research foundations in San Diego, called indirect cost reimbursements “critical and inevitable expenses” and called the 15% “arbitrary and poorly designed ceiling with immediate repercussions and in the long term ”.
“Beyond seriously embarrassing the continuous development of therapies and vital treatments, this endangers the training and prosperity of new generations of scientists,” said Brenner in an email. “With a 15%ceiling, fewer scientists will kiss the mission because they will lack sufficient means to do so.
“New generations of scientists will not have the same opportunities. The world leadership of the nation in the life sciences will be withered; The pipeline of new drugs, treatments and therapies will become a net. »»
However, in its opinion of February 7 to all beneficiaries of American subsidies, the NIH argues that many private research donors, such as the Gates Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation, pay indirect cost rates of 15% or less.
An analysis of indirect expenditure in 72 universities, according to the letter from the NIH, showed that 67 “were willing to accept research subsidies which had 0% of indirect costs coverage”.
The agency argues that more billions of computer funding subsidies should be devoted to research.
“The United States should have the best medical research in the world,” said the NIH letter. “It is therefore essential to guarantee that as many funds as possible is towards direct scientific research costs rather than general administrative costs.”
The NIH letter indicates that if the ceiling would affect payments for existing subsidies, the 15% ceiling would not be applied retroactively.
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