The Ohio State Board of Trustees will discuss today how to track and report more than $180 million of expected federal funding. The university will receive the funds in the next two fiscal years under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.
The act, which Congress passed in February, boosted federal funding for education. OSU organizes its stimulus funding into three categories: sponsored research programs, state fiscal stabilization funds and other funding from the stimulus package.
As of Sept. 30, the university had received more than $1.8 million for sponsored research and other programs, said Tom Ewing, associate controller at OSU. Ewing is a co-chair of the university’s effort to monitor the reporting of the stimulus funds.
“The bulk of the funds directly received by OSU were to fund sponsored research programs, primarily from the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation,” Ewing said in an e-mail.
Funds are awarded for research programs through a competitive proposal process.
“These proposals were peer-reviewed and the most competitive were funded,” said Anne Moffat, executive director of the Office of Sponsored Programs, in an e-mail. “OSU success is recognition of the high-quality proposals submitted and the excellent work being done by our researchers.
“In some cases, funding was awarded to proposals that had been submitted prior to the passage of [the stimulus fund],” she said. Along with Ewing, Moffat is a co-chair of the university clearing house that reports on the funding.
Smaller amounts went toward the public radio station WOSU and student financial aid. Because OSU already participates in the federal work-study program and a nursing faculty loan program, Ewing said, funds for these areas are supplemental.
In the next two fiscal years, OSU will receive $54.9 million for sponsored research and student financial aid, Ewing said. The university will receive funds as it bills the government for expenditures.
Additional funds are also expected.
“We still have proposals in the agency review/approval ‘pipeline’ that
may also be awarded [stimulus] funds,” he said.
Through Sept. 30, OSU had received roughly $11.8 million of state fiscal stabilization funds, Ewing said. These funds are included in the university’s main operating funding from the state.
According to a report by Ewing sent to college senior fiscal officers in August, “These funds are being incorporated into the regular General Funds budget process for distribution and expenditure by the colleges and VP units.”
Ewing said the university expects about $130 million of these state funds in the next two fiscal years.
In a government attempt to monitor the use of funds, the act requires recipients to report data both at the federal and state levels. The university must gather and submit information quarterly to federalreporting.gov and the state auditor.
So far, OSU has reported all funding it has received from the stimulus package. Moffat said all of OSU’s reports were submitted by Oct. 10, the first federal reporting deadline.
If the university does not comply with requirements, auditing agencies could withdraw funds.
To ensure that the university continues to meet reporting requirements, the Board of Trustees will discuss today the system that Ewing and Moffat have implemented.
“The [Audit and Compliance] committee will receive an overview of our [stimulus funding] reporting efforts,” Ewing said. “It will also be an opportunity for committee members to ask any specific questions that they may have.”
