when they receive a federal research grant. It?s money given on top of the
actual grant amount that is intended to defray the administrative and
institutional costs in conducting the actual research. The problem for taxpayers, however, is
that these are costs that the General Assembly has already covered. So what we have here is the
universities double dipping and raking in cash that could be used to pay other
needs that the state faces in a tough state budget. My colleague, Jon Sanders
offered a good explanation of overhead receipts here.
Every year each university campus has to report by December 1 how much
they have gotten in overhead receipts, how much of the money they?ve spent and
how much they have left over.
Those figures are then reported to the Board of Governor?s at their
February board meeting. The Board of Governor?s then has to report the amount
of overhead receipts and the use of those funds to the Joint Legislative Committee
Education Oversight Committee by March 1.
2007-08 when the UNC system got $174 M in overhead receipts. Perhaps that money
would be better applied to pay for core functions, high priority
responsibilities of state government.
all of state government is going to have to exhibit restraint and look
everywhere for savings. The
universities could set a great example of fiscal discipline at their upcoming
February board meeting and return the overhead receipts, which were never really theirs anyway, to the General Fund.
