Rutgers warns research pauses, F&A cuts and staff losses would slow clinical trials and community services

Francine Newsom Pfeiffer, senior vice president for government relations at Rutgers, told legislators that federal funding supports broad university functions including student aid, research, clinical services and county‑level extension work. "We have $491,000,000 in federal student aid to Rutgers students," Pfeiffer said, adding that Rutgers receives $286,000,000 from NIH and nearly $70,000,000 from NSF annually. She told the committee that more than half of the university's roughly $1 billion in research funding comes from federal agencies and that delays or stop‑work orders have already forced some researchers to pause work.

Pfeiffer flagged two specifics members pressed: canceled NIH study sections and proposed caps on facilities and administrative (F&A) cost reimbursement. "A 15% cap would be absolutely devastating," she said, explaining that F&A reimburses real costs — building operations, lab support and research administration — and that an arbitrary cap would force universities to reconsider whether they can afford to perform federal research. The witness also described multi‑week delays reported in VA benefits processing that affect GI Bill students' cost‑of‑living payments.

On executive orders, Pfeiffer said litigation and guidance are creating operational uncertainty and that, in some cases, agencies have asked universities to adjust grant language or have stopped funding particular awards pending review for compliance. She asked legislators for state partnership and follow‑up data to quantify the economic impact on jobs, commercialization and research ecosystems.