Federal appropriations for fiscal 1991 for projects involving specific colleges and universities has set an all-time record for such spending. Actual totals are probably even higher. Spending is for research facilities and varied projects. The increases may reflect lawmakers' impatience for an administration policy on promoting technology. (MSE)

Congress has earmarked $440 million for projects involving specific universities for fiscal 1997, a 49% increase from the previous year but far from the $763 million earmarked in fiscal 1993. The funds are not subject to the competitive review typically used for distributing federal money. Critics say absence of review makes the awards a poor…

Increasingly, professional schools are addressing the issue of whether a financially successful program has a responsibility to support other, less financially successful programs, and how university fund raisers can assure donors that their gifts will benefit specific programs and not be siphoned into others. Law and business schools, often…

Congressional investigations into university overhead charges, especially those at Stanford University (California), for federally sponsored research are leading universities to reexamine and change some policies, including charging some housing costs for university officers to government contracts. (DB)