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Town hall meeting on NRSA tuition, fees and insurance costs will occur Nov. 30 at NIH

The National Institutes of Health will hold a town hall meeting to elicit comments and suggestions about possible revisions to fiscal policies that govern the Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Awards (NRSA). NRSAs include institutional training grants (T32 and T34s) and individual fellowships (F30, F31, F32, F33). This open meeting will focus on funding for educational costs such as tuition, fees and health insurance provided through institutional training grants. The meeting will be held November 30, 2005 in the Natcher Conference Center, Room E1/E2 on the NIH campus in Bethesda, Maryland. As background, NIH offers the information in the following paragraphs.

NRSA programs currently support more than 17,000 predoctoral and postdoctoral research training positions, mostly in academic laboratories. While the budget for NRSA programs grew smartly during the five years when the overall appropriation for NIH doubled, since fiscal 2003 the appropriation for NRSA training programs has grown only modestly. Given this reality, NIH must re-examine aspects of its NRSA policies that may not be sustainable in a period of limited budget expansion.

The largest of the NRSA programs funds institutional training grants that use the T32 mechanism to support pre- and post-doctoral research training. Currently, the direct cost funding of these programs ifalls into four categories: stipend, tuition/fees/health insurance (referred to collectively as tuition), travel, and training related expenses. The funding levels for three of these (stipend, travel, and training related expenses) are stipulated and controlled by NIH, although each can be adjusted as fiscal circumstances and program needs evolve. The funding for tuition is not fully controlled by NIH; the funding for tuition is governed by a formula tied to the amount each institution requests for this expense. For each T32 trainee, the formula provides $3,000 plus 60% of the requested tuition in excess of $3,000. This formula is used to determine the tuition level provided via each competing grant; once established for a given competing grant, the same tuition level is used for non-competing renewal awards during the project period. This formula has been in place since 1996 with one modification.

During the 5-year doubling period, increased funding for NRSA activities provided increases in trainee stipends and covered some of the escalating requests in the tuition category. However, in FY 2004 and 2005, with limited NRSA budget growth, requests and outlays for tuition continued to rise substantially. Barring other adjustments, this trend will result in a significant annual decrease in the number of NRSA trainee positions, and fewer programs supported by T32 training grants. Because these outcomes could have a substantial disruptive effect on biomedical research training, NIH has frozen the tuition expenses on competing renewals of T32 awards in FY 2006. (See http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-05-059.html)

NIH training officials are studying various options for handling trainee tuition in the future. The goal is to find an approach that allows NIH to adjust to budgetary challenges and continue to provide appropriate support to institutions to help defray the educational costs of NRSA trainees. This town hall meeting is being held to gather the views of the training community on this issue. Among the options that will be studied are the following:

  1. The current tuition formula could be applied in conjunction with a ceiling; the funds provided would be the amount dictated by the currently-used formula or the amount dictated by the ceiling, whichever is less. The magnitude of the ceiling would be based on the fiscal resources available as well as on applicable data. For the sake of discussion, those offering comments may assume the ceiling could be in the range of $16,000 to $18,000.
  2. A fixed allowance could be provided for tuition; the same allowance per trainee would be provided to each grantee institution. This approach is employed by the National Science Foundation for its graduate research fellowship program. For the sake of discussion, those offering comments may assume the allowance could be in the range of $16,000 to $18,000. The allowance could be adjusted periodically by the NIH as fiscal circumstances warranted.
  3. The current tuition formula could be retained without modification. Those offering comments may assume that under this option the number of NRSA trainees and funded training grant programs will likely experience a series of year-to-year decreases as long as the current fiscal patterns prevail.

Those who wish to attend the town hall meeting may submit a brief statement, not to exceed two pages, summarizing relevant views and experiences. Some of those submitting statements will be asked to speak briefly at the meeting. The organizers hope to ensure that a full range of opinions is heard and that all parts of the NRSA constituency are represented. Those not asked to present will be given a brief opportunity to contribute during two "open mike" sessions. The deadline for submitting statements was November 4, 2005.

All individuals who wish to attend the meeting should register through the Town Hall meeting's website at HTTP://Pub.NIGMS.NIH.GOV/NRSAMEETING. Participants are responsible for their own expenses associated with participating in this meeting.

Questions concerning the town hall meeting should be directed to:
Dr. Warren Jones
National Institute of General Medical Sciences
National Institutes of Health
Email: jonesw@nigms.nih.gov
Phone: 301-594-3827

Source: Notice Number: NOT-OD-06-003, released October 12, 2005, NIH Guide


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