Universities Are Wary of Drawbacks to a Huge Boost in Federal Spending

Well, it didn't take long for that perspective to cycle through 360 degrees.

After a month of celebrating the largest boost in federal spending on scientific research that most of them have ever seen, university presidents are increasingly tuned to the possibility of a downside.

The new money—primarily from a $21.5-billion jump in research-and-development spending in the economic stimulus law—is certainly welcome, several university presidents and higher-education officials said on Tuesday during a lobbying trip to Capitol Hill.

Yet, the leaders said, many institutions struggled over the past decade to retain promising young researchers and their investigative projects through upward and downward spikes in the budget of the National Institutes of Health, And they’re now hoping to avoid repeating that pattern with the stimulus money.