re: WSJ: Faculty-on-Faculty War Erupts at Columbia

I appreciate the comments but fairly confident in the math on this as years ago I had funded grants. Not NIH but private and I believe the 15% that nih now uses comes from the 15% that is standard.



Here is an AI readout. It clearly hasn’t updated to the 15% cap for NIH but math is shown.


# Indirect Cost Calculation for a $1 Million Grant

## Scenario 1: Using Modified Total Direct Costs (MTDC)

Let's assume:
- Total grant amount: $1,000,000
- Negotiated indirect cost rate: 52% (common for research universities)
- Equipment purchase: $150,000
- Subcontract: $100,000

**Step 1: Calculate MTDC base**
Total Direct Costs: $1,000,000
Less excluded costs:
- Equipment: $150,000
- Portion of subcontract exceeding $25,000: $75,000

MTDC base: $1,000,000 - $150,000 - $75,000 = $775,000

**Step 2: Calculate indirect costs**
Indirect costs = MTDC base × Indirect cost rate
Indirect costs = $775,000 × 52% = $403,000

**Total grant with indirect costs: $1,403,000**

## Scenario 2: Using Total Direct Costs (TDC)

Let's assume:
- Total direct costs: $1,000,000
- Negotiated indirect cost rate: 52%

Indirect costs = $1,000,000 × 52% = $520,000

**Total grant with indirect costs: $1,520,000**

## Scenario 3: Using Foundation Rate Cap

Let's assume:
- Total direct costs: $1,000,000
- Foundation cap on indirect costs: 15%

Indirect costs = $1,000,000 × 15% = $150,000

**Total grant with indirect costs: $1,150,000**

## Scenario 4: Using NIH Rate Cap

Let's assume:
- Total direct costs: $1,000,000
- NIH salary cap applies
- NIH indirect cost rate cap: 40%

Indirect costs = $1,000,000 × 40% = $400,000

**Total grant with indirect costs: $1,400,000**

That’s good. Do it off campus. Don’t disrupt students and faculty on a campus.

quote:

---

Columbia University has an endowment of over $14.8 Billion dollars. (Yes - Billion). Why are federal tax dollars being sent there at all?

---

Because, federal agencies are essentially hiring experts (who work at universities) to conduct research. An example might be that the Forest Service wants a technique to identify pine borer infestations from satellite images and a faculty member (or group) at Columbia (or LSU, or UF) has the expertise to do that. The faculty member submits a proposal describing the work to be done and the budget required (which will include some faculty pay in lieu of their regular pay from the school, grad student pay, supercomputer time, etc.) plus the indirect rate (typically around 50%). If the proposal is accepted, the funding goes to the university, which then distributes the funds per the agreed-upon budget. The school's endowment has nothing to do with it.

This is a closely regulated process. The indirect rate is negotiated between each individual school and the Feds on a regular basis, and it is a function of the percentage of the school's infrastructure used for research purposes. Also, the school is required to ensure that the funding is being allocated per the budget, or the shite hits the fan.

The faculty are almost like consultants or contractors, but they are operating through the auspices of the school, who manages the budget and all the BS required Federal paperwork.

A reduced indirect rate, which the administration may impose, could, in many cases, actually help the faculty researchers. For example, the project manager at USFS has $300,000 in his budget for this research. If the school can only impose 15% indirect instead of 50%, that leaves more money in the budget to hire an additional grad student, or bring in undergrad researchers, whatever. More of the agencies money (our tax money) is going to support the actual work rather than pay for infrastructure, which the faculty researcher doesn't care about.

This is why the "War" is going on. The indirect generated by the productive faculty (STEM, largely) goes to support the research into things like gender studies.

Maybe the grants people at my place were wrong then. Around four years ago I applied for a NEH grant. My budget was $15k. When I went to submit for review I was informed my budget would need to be just over $40k due to the institution's negotiated rate for indirect costs. I was shocked it ended up being that much.

I was not awarded the grant.

This is a tag-team match to determine which demographics of Columbia University are the absolute worst.

Covid propagandists + Zionists vs. The Palestinian death cult + White-guilt progressives

quote:

---

At one time it was the Far Right-KKK, White Citizen’s Council and others that were notorious for their anti-Semitism.

---

The Democrat Party created all of these entities. The largest KKK rallies in history took place in northern states.

quote:

---

West Seattle Dude

---

Oh, never mind. You were taught a different "history".

Burn it down. All of it.

The whole Ivy League is a shitshow.

Harvard's plagiarizing president, all the schools' slobbering over every DEI hire, every school having billions in endowments...

Why any student pays any tuition at all is baffling.

quote:

---

I need to see a citation for that one.

My understanding is that over 90% of NSF university grants go to STEM subjects

---

FWIW, I went to grad school on DoD and NASA grants, so I did a double take on the data myself. Check the Google AI overview for yourself: LINK