How research indirect costs work, and the changes that lie ahead

For decades, the federal government has supported the infrastructure that makes biomedical breakthroughs possible at universities, academic hospitals, and other research institutions. But recent moves by the Trump administration and Congress reinforce that this system seems headed for a major shake-up.

Earlier this month, the House Committee on Appropriations advanced legislation that would limit National Institutes of Health payments for research overhead, also known as indirect costs , to private universities and colleges with large endowments. Similarly, an executive order on grantmaking instructs federal agencies to give preference to institutions with lower indirect cost rates, which currently vary widely and are negotiated with each institution, and it directs the White House’