Relation of the Federal Government to Research 



Rather than duplicate all these facilities in Washing- 

 ton or in regional laboratories and take men vital to 

 education away from the universities, all research cen- 

 ters and facilities of importance should be so coordi- 

 nated with the Government as to be available to 

 cooperate when needed. It would seem that this could 

 best be done through the agency of the research councils 

 acting in service to the Government. 



Expenditures for Research 



Of the 1,450 American colleges and universities, 150 

 spent in 1935-36 about $265,000,000. Of this amount, 

 about $50,000,000 was spent on research. The remain- 

 ing 1,300 institutions spent about $155,000,000 and of 

 this, $1,000,000 or more was spent on reseaivh. It may 

 be said with confidence that about $50,000,000 a year 

 is spent on research by American universities and 

 colleges. 



The most painstaking recent effort to estimate the 

 cost of research in a great universitj', which has been 

 published, was made in connection with the Survey of 

 the University of Chicago based on figures for 1929-30. 

 The assumption is that the work and therefore the ex- 

 pense of a university can be divided between teaching 

 and research. In Volume II of the Survey^ the follow- 

 ing report is given on the cost of research. 



RejDorts from each staff member on the proportion 

 of his time spent on research resulted in the following 

 summary : 



Field Percentaije 

 Humanities , 26. 2 



Social sciences 22. .3 



Physical Sciences 35. 6 



Biological Sciences 29.8 



Professional Schools 14. 6 



Average total 26. 9 



Type of Expenditure Amount 

 Total regular staff salaries for teaching and re- 

 search $2, 243, 393 



Time spent on research, 26.9 percent $584, 673 



Special research salaries 82, 547 



Oriental Institute 351, 177 



Medical science, special research 140, 841 



Apportionment library funds 111, 482 



Apportionment equipment funds 196, 780 



1,467,500 



Proportional amount retiring allowance 45,237 



Proportionnl amount faculty administra- 

 tion 39, 744 



Proportional amount general administra- 

 tion 190, 1.58 



Proportional amount building and grounds- 189, 765 



464, 904 



Expenditure for research from items outside budget- 625, 399 



Total research 2, 557, 803 



Total expenditures 7, 882, 907 



177 



On the above basis, the University of Chicago in 

 1929-30 spent 32.5 percent of its total expenditures on 

 research. 



A similar study was made at the University of Cali- 

 fornia based on figures for 1928-29. 



Tlie cost of education and research was found to be: 



Field Activity Percentage 



In agriculture Teaching: 



On the campus 18. 20 



In extension 40. 57 



58. 77 



Research 41. 23 



In academic departments Teaching: 



On the campus 69. 63 



In extension 3. 33 



72.96 



Research 27.04 



Total expenditures for research $2,350,000 



Total expenditures 9, 470, 000 



The University of California thus spent 25 percent 

 of its expenditure in 1928-29 for research. The esti- 

 mate of total cost includes the salary of the staff in 

 proportion to the time spent on research; special re- 

 search funds; and proportionate allocation of library, 

 equipment, general administration, and operation of 

 plant expenditures to research. 



From the results of these two studies, personal con- 

 ferences at three institutions of a different type, and 

 personal knowledge of two other institutions, estimates 

 were made of the expenditures on research of 180 of the 

 strongest institutions in the country. In a personal 

 letter to the presidents the estimates for their respec- 

 tive institutions were given and a request was made 

 that they be corrected or confirmed. Tlie total esti- 

 mates of the amount spent annually for research in 

 these 180 institutions was $51,000,000. Twenty-four 

 privately supported institutions responded : Eight con- 

 firmed the estimate, seven increased it, and nine 

 reduced it. For these 24 institutions the estimate sub- 

 mitted was $8,324,000 and the estimate returned was 

 $8,080,000, or a reduction of $244,000. Thirty-five pub- 

 licly supported institutions responded: 17 confirmed 

 the estimate, 9 increased it, and 8 reduced it. For 

 these 35 institutions the estimate submitted was $12,- 

 230,000 and the estimate returned was $13,200,000 or 

 an increase of $972,000. Thus, for these 59 institu- 

 tions the estimate of $20,554,000 spent for research was 

 $728,000 too low. 



While it is recognized that these figures are all far 

 from exact, they do confirm the estimate that about 

 $50,000,000 a year is being spent by the colleges and 

 universities on research, defining research in a broad 

 way." 



^ More detailed estimates are given in tile .\ppeiulix, pp. 100-191. 



