Earmarks for Education

While we have not talked about earmarks yet in seminar, earmark legislative reform has been going through Congress and a recent article entitled “New Earmark Limits Make Universities Desired Partners, but Some Just Say No” in The Chronicle of Higher Education provides an interesting take on earmark reform. Earmarks are funding tagged by Congress for specific projects that otherwise may not receive federal funding. An example of an earmark would be funding by Congress for a bridge repair in Columbus. In an effort to make earmarks more transparent, the House Appropriations Committee has banned for-profit companies from applying for them. Non-profit companies, like universities, are still able to apply for earmarks. Thus, some for-profit companies have set up non-profit entities. Others have teamed up with universities who conduct research. Many universities benefit from this partnership, as it contributes to their research missions. The University of Toledo, one of our Ohio neighbors, is one of the biggest benefactors of these types of partnerships and is currently set to benefit from five of the seventeen earmark requests for non-profit entities under consideration. However, the University of Kentucky is refusing to partner with a California company on the grounds that the earmarked money will not directly benefit the university. Instead, Kentucky would rather gather funds for basic research without being linked to a for-profit company.
As Ohio State is a research institution, we are constantly looking for ways to finance research. This change in earmark legislation may play a role in funding our research now. I look forward to continuing to follow this reform and its effects on university research. – Kelly F.