Cornell administrators are concerned about proposals in President George W. Bush's proposed fiscal year (FY) 2007 budget regarding student financial aid and research in agriculture and the biological sciences.

The president's proposed $2.77 trillion FY07 budget, released Feb. 6, would increase discretionary spending by more than 3 percent to $870.7 billion. But the budget proposes cuts to mandatory spending -- such programs as Medicaid, Medicare, food stamps and student financial aid -- of more than $65 billion over five years.

The potential impact of some parts of the proposed budget makes Cornell administrators "cautiously optimistic," however. University officials are pleased that the budget request follows up on Bush's "American Competitiveness Initiative," announced in his State of the Union address Jan. 31. "I am heartened that the president has made innovation and competitiveness top priorities for his administration this year, and that he has heeded the advice of business, industry, Congressional groups and the academic and scientific communities concerning the need for increased funding for basic research," said Cornell President Hunter R. Rawlings.

But, he said, "The proposed cuts in federal student aid, however, would make it more difficult to sustain the highly educated workforce that is also essential to America's ability to innovate and compete. Even though Cornell provides some $97 million in institutional financial aid to its students each year, nearly half of our students are also dependent on federal and state aid to meet their educational costs. They cannot bear the burden of a second year of steep cuts to federal student aid programs."

Bush and Congress cut almost $13 billion over five years from the student loan program in FY06. The president's FY07 budget would cut $307 million from federal Pell Grants and eliminate Perkins and other loan programs. At Cornell, 2,104 students received Pell Grants in 2004-05, and 2,633 received Perkins loans.

The picture is in part more positive for research. The proposed budget increases overall funding for research and development (R&D) by 3 percent to $137.2 billion. Within that total, funding for basic research would increase by $357 million, or 1 percent, to $28.25 billion, while funding for applied research would fall by $1.83 billion, or 7 percent, to $26.11 billion.

Three agencies that account for a significant amount of federal research support at Cornell -- the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) laboratories in the Commerce Department -- would receive substantial budget increases after years of flat or declining funding. However, the budget for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) would be flat for the second year in a row and would fund less than one out of every five grant applications.

This federal support is critical, Cornell administrators assert. Cornell received $361 million in total federal research funding in FY04. Of that, $180.2 million was from the Department of Health & Human Services through NIH, including funding to both Weill Cornell Medical College and the Ithaca campus; $102.2 million from NSF; $20.2 million from the Department of Defense (DOD); $16.6 million from NASA; $18.5 million from the Department of Agriculture (USDA); $6.9 million from DOE; $4.1 million from the Agency for International Development; and $7.09 million from all others.

"The portion of the budget that deals with the physical sciences is welcome news, but Cornell has broader needs," said Robert C. Richardson, vice provost for research. "We have a major investment in the biological and agricultural sciences that isn't really met with this budget."

The president's agriculture proposals are also problematic for Cornell. Bush's proposed budget would mean a 1 percent reduction in USDA research and development, and an 11 percent reduction in basic research.

Further, proposed changes in the way some types of federal funds would be distributed would cost Cornell researchers at the Geneva and Ithaca agricultural experiment stations well over $1 million in FY07. Over the next five years, the current approximate total annual allocation of $5.1 million in this category of funds, allocated to the two experiment stations, would be cut by 55.6 percent to $2.25 million. Those funds would be diverted into an as yet undetermined competitive program to fund multi-institutional regional research.

"The president's budget proposal does not do justice to agricultural research, which is vitally important to our nation's health and economic well-being," said Susan A. Henry, the Ronald P. Lynch Dean of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

"Cornell strongly supports competitive allocation of research dollars, but implementing precipitous changes to the funding formulas by FY07 is unfair to our experiment stations, which take a long-term approach to planning," Henry added. "This proposal will seriously impair our ability to continue to fund over 250 research projects currently supported by Federal Formula Funds."