NIU trustees hear warnings about federal grant volatility, rising compliance burden

At a public meeting of the Northern Illinois University Board of Trustees Research and Innovation Legal and Legislative Affairs Committee, university research leaders reported that shifting federal policy and agency practices are reducing the pace of grant awards, slowing reimbursements and increasing administrative demands on sponsored-program staff.

The update came during the committee's federal- and sponsored-programs reports, when Richard Mokarski, vice president for research and innovation partnerships, and Dara (sponsored programs presenter) described a funding year that produced $61,000,000 in external awards for fiscal 2025 but showed signs of strain going forward. "We are doing everything we can to address those and to position ourselves for, anything that comes around the bend," Mokarski said.

The committee was told why that positioning matters. Dara said the university posted $61,000,000 in external funding for fiscal 2025, a 9% increase from the prior year and a 38% rise since fiscal 2021, but cautioned that federal awards have slowed. She told trustees that the way the university accounts for multi-year awards will change: an NSF three-year $3,000,000 award was booked in full this year, but future…