178 



Sources of Funds for Research 



Researcli now under way in the universities is fi- 

 nanced chiefly from six sources: Appropriations by 

 States, Federal grants, sales of products, endowments, 

 grants from foundations, and special gifts. Wliile 

 only a rough approximation can be made of the 

 amounts received from some of these sources, estimates 

 are suggestive. The figures given attempt to represent 

 the year 1935-36 : 



Source Amount 

 Appropriation by States, Department of Agricul- 

 ture, experiment stations $7, 283, 000 



Estimate of other State appropriations spent for 



research 7, 000, 000 



Federal grants to universities for agricultural ex- 

 periment stations 4, 905, 000 



Sales and other income for research 2, 000, 000 



General endowment income 17, 000, OOO 



Grants from foundations for research 8, 000, 000 



Special gifts from outside the foundations 4, 000, 000 



Total (approximate) 50,000,000 



The estimates of the last three items are probably 

 close as to total but rather uncertain as to distribution 

 among the three sources. 



Research Projects Under Way 



"While in the agricultural experiment stations, and 

 in certain other research organizations within the in- 

 stitutions, research is all organized on the project basis, 

 most university research is not so organized. An esti- 

 mate, however, of the number of projects under way 

 is helpful in grasping the extent and the importance of 

 research. 



In 1935-36, in the 54 agricultural experiment sta- 

 tions, 4,000 men were carrying on 7,223 projects at a 

 cost of $16,000,000 ($5,000,000 from the U. S. Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, $11,000,000 from States and other 

 sources) . The average expenditures per man employed 

 were $4,000 and the average expenditures per project 

 were $2,200. The variations in cost for individual 

 projects were, of course, very wide. About 15 percent 

 of the experiment station projects are completed or 

 dropped annually. By the nature of the research in 

 agriculture and the necessarily large scale on which 

 many experiments are carried out, the projects in the 

 stations cost more than the average university project. 



An endeavor was made to find out how many re- 

 search projects were under way in the universities. 

 Eight institutions made fairly definite reports on their 

 expenditures for research and on the number of re- 

 search projects. Three were great universities and 

 five were institutions of lesser scope. They reported a 

 total of 8,170 projects under way at a cost of $8,316,000. 

 This gives an average cost of $1,018 per project, about 

 half the cost of 7,220 projects in agriculture. 



National Resources Committee 



A rough estimate of the number of projects and their 

 average cost is as follows: 



It may be concluded that about 40,000 projects are 

 under way at an average cost of about $1,250. 



Number of Projects Completed or Dropped Each Year 



The only accurate figure on the number of researcu 

 projects completed or dropped each year comes from 

 the agricultural experiment stations. In 2 consecutive 

 years 13 percent and 17 percent respectively of experi- 

 ment station projects were concluded. In the univer- 

 sities some 6,000 to 8,000 projects carried on by gradu- 

 ate students are completed in 2 or 3 years, at the rate 

 of about 40 percent a year. Of the 40,000 projects 

 under way in any year, probably 10,000 are brought 

 to conclusion in that year. On this basis the average 

 cost of carrying a research project to conclusion is 

 $5,000, although the variation is wide — probably from 

 a few hundred to several hundred thousand dollars. 



It may be roughly estimated that the completion of 

 a project in agriculture extending over about 6^^ years 

 costs $15,000. The completion of a project by a candi- 

 date for a doctor's degree extending over about 2^/^ 

 years costs $2,500. Projects other than these averaged 

 about 4 years and each costs for completion about 

 $4,000. It is evident that the cost of these studies is 

 considerable and that this cost fully warrants great 

 care in selecting projects. 



On the basis of expenditures of $50,000,000 on re- 

 search annually by the universities and colleges, $65,- 

 000,000 by the Government, and $100,000,000-$150,000,- 

 000 by industry and business, it is concluded that the 

 universities carry on about 20 percent of the research of 

 the Nation. 



Efforts to Advance Research in 

 Universities and Colleges 



Research in the universities and in many colleges has 

 grown to be a major part of the work of the institu- 

 tions. The research and the training of research work- 

 ers in the universities has become of very great 

 importance to the Nation. On the whole, research in 

 the universities has grown gradually as a result of the 

 initiative of the individual professor. Within recent 

 years larger and more complex projects have arisen 

 and more cooperation has been necessary. The subject 

 of this chapter is to consider what is being done in 



