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 reporting will include only first-year amounts to smooth internal controls and reporting.

Why it matters: federal agencies have issued numerous executive actions and policy notices that university administrators say increase the documentation required for drawdowns and give political appointees added sign-off on grant terms. Julia Rowe, speaking for federal relations, summarized recent federal changes and said many details require Department of Education rulemaking: "Many of the changes in HR 1 will need to go through the rulemaking process and the Department of Education for implementation." Dara added that recent agency requirements are slowing reimbursements because post-award staff must now provide detailed, line-by-line justifications with each draw, and that OMB's and agency-level proposals to revise the Uniform Guidance could further change post-award practice.

Committee members pressed for specifics on cash flow and timing. Dara said reimbursements are typically done on a cost-reimbursement basis, not as up-front cash: "We rarely ever have the cash, for grants. Grants are mostly always on a cost reimbursement basis. So the university incurs the expense and then seeks reimbursement." She said staff have increased draw frequency to manage liquidity and that, while most reimbursements have been timely, there were some "excessive delays" earlier in the year.

Trustees also discussed proposals to change how universities are reimbursed for facilities and administrative (indirect) costs. Dara and Richard described the Joint Association Group (JAG) model being developed by a coalition of higher-education associations as an alternative to the decades-old negotiated indirect-cost process; they said initial modeling suggests some institutions could fare better under the JAG approach but that any change could raise institutional budget requests. "There's 2 camps right now, those who think that something will happen, those who think that nothing will happen," Dara said, urging caution until federal actions are finalized.

The committee also received examples of current research activity that trustees said illustrated the stakes: an $11,000,000 multi-institution NSF hail-research project, an NSF Belong in STEM scholarship program, and a Morton Arboretum partnership supported by Inflation Reduction Act funding. Richard noted that some federal programs remain intact while others have been halted or are under litigation.

One specific program discussed at length was the Department of Education'funded Preparing Educators of School Psychologists (PEPS) grant. Dara and other administrators said the Department has informed the university it will not fund years four and five of a five-year award; the grant had supported cohorts of full-time, in-service teachers retraining as school psychologists by funding tuition, stipends and replacement teachers. President Freeman described the grant's loss as "devastating" for affected students and said university leaders are exploring ways to bridge support while reviewing contract and regulatory remedies.

What the board directed and next steps: trustees asked staff to monitor federal rulemaking, track outstanding reimbursements and continue modeling alternatives for indirect-cost recovery. University leaders emphasized ongoing coordination across research administration, academic affairs and university legal counsel and said they are working with higher-education associations on advocacy and technical comment letters to federal agencies.

Votes at the meeting were procedural: the committee approved the meeting agenda and minutes and adjourned by roll call (see actions array for details). The committee set its next meeting for Nov. 13, 2025.