[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 204 (Monday, October 24, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 61464-61465]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-21134]
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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
National Institutes of Health
National Institutes of Health Town Hall Meeting on Ruth L.
Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) Tuition, Fees and
Health Insurance Policies
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: The purpose of this notice is to announce that the National
Institutes of Health (NIH) will hold a Town Hall meeting to hear
comments and insights concerning possible revisions to certain fiscal
policies that govern the Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service
Awards (NRSA), which comprise institutional training grants (T32 and
T34s) and individual fellowships (F30, F31, F32, F33). The meeting
which is open to the public will focus primarily on the funding of
educational costs such as tuition, fees and health insurance provided
through institutional training grants. The meeting will be held
November 30, 2005 in the Natcher Conference Center, Room E1/E2 on the
NIH campus in Bethesda, Maryland.
Background: NRSA programs currently support over 17,000 predoctoral
and postdoctoral research training positions mostly in the nation's
academic laboratories. While the budget for the NRSA programs grew
smartly during the five years in which the overall appropriation for
the NIH was doubled, since fiscal 2003, the last of the growth years,
the appropriation for NRSA training programs has grown rather modestly.
Given this reality, the NIH must re-examine aspects of its NRSA
policies that may not be sustainable in a period of limited budget
expansion.
The largest of the NRSA programs funds institutional training
grants that use the T32 mechanism to support both pre- and post-
doctoral research training. Currently, the direct cost funding of these
programs is segmented into four categories: stipend, tuition/fees/
health insurance (referred to collectively as tuition), travel, and
training related expenses. The funding levels for three of these
(stipend, travel, and training related expenses) are stipulated and
controlled by NIH, although each can be adjusted as fiscal
circumstances and program needs evolve. The funding for tuition, on the
other hand, is not fully controlled by NIH; the funding for tuition is
governed by a formula tied to the amount each institution requests for
this expense. The formula provides for each T32 trainee the sum of
$3,000 plus sixty percent of the requested tuition in excess of $3,000.
This formula is used to determine the tuition level provided via each
competing grant; that level, once established for a given competing
grant, is used for the subsequent non-competing renewal awards during
the project period. This formula has been employed since fiscal 1996
and has been modified once.
During the five year growth period, the increased funding devoted
to NRSA activities was used for meaningful, and long overdue, trainee
stipend increases and for covering some of the escalating requests in
the tuition category of training grants. However, in fiscal 2004 and
2005, when there was limited NRSA budget growth, the requests and
outlays for tuition continued to rise substantially. Barring other
adjustments, the continuation of this trend in tuition growth will
result in a significant annual decrease in the number of NRSA trainee
positions, and to fewer programs supported by T32 training grants.
Since these outcomes could have a substantial disruptive effect on
biomedical research training, NIH has frozen the tuition expenses on
competing renewals of T32 awards in fiscal 2006. (See http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-05-059.html) Moreover,
NIH training officials have decided to study various options for
handling the funding of trainee tuition in the future. The goal of this
effort is to find an approach that equips the agency both to adjust to
budgetary challenges and to continue to provide appropriate support to
institutions to help defray the educational costs of NRSA trainees.
This town hall meeting is being held to gather the views of the
training community on this issue.
Among the options that will be studied are the following:
1. The current tuition formula could be applied in conjunction with
a ceiling; the funds provided would be the amount dictated by the
currently-used formula or the amount dictated by the ceiling, whichever
is less. The magnitude of the ceiling would be based on the fiscal
resources available as well as on applicable data. For the sake of
discussion, those offering comments may assume the ceiling could be in
the range of $16,000 to $18,000.
2. A fixed allowance could be provided for tuition; the same
allowance per trainee would be provided to each
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grantee institution. This approach is employed by the National Science
Foundation for its graduate research fellowship program. For the sake
of discussion, those offering comments may assume the allowance could
be in the range of $16,000 to $18,000. The allowance could be adjusted
periodically by the NIH as fiscal circumstances warranted.
3. The current tuition formula could be retained without
modification. Those offering comments may assume that under this option
the number of NRSA trainees and funded training grant programs will
likely experience a series of year-to-year decreases as long as the
current fiscal patterns prevail.
Participation: Those who wish to attend the Town Hall meeting are
invited to submit a brief statement, not to exceed two pages,
summarizing views and experiences relevant to the topic of the meeting.
Some of those submitting statements will be asked to make brief oral
presentations at the meeting. In selecting those to make presentations
and in allocating time, the organizers hope to ensure that a full range
of opinions is heard and that all parts of the NRSA constituency are
represented. Those not asked to present will be welcome at the meeting
and will be given a brief opportunity to contribute during two ``open
mike'' sessions. Individuals should submit their statements along with
their name, affiliation, and contact information to
[email protected] by November 4, 2005. Individuals chosen to
make presentations at the Town Hall meeting will be notified on or
around November 14, 2005. Those unable to attend but who wish to
provide statements are welcome to do so. All statements will be
considered by NIH staff. Those who do not submit statements but wish to
observe the meeting will be admitted on a space-available basis. An NIH
official will present background information on NRSA tuition support at
the outset of the meeting.
All individuals who wish to attend the meeting should register
through the Town Hall meeting's Web site at http://pub.nigms.nih.gov/nrsameeting, available on or about October 24, 2005. The detailed
schedule for the meeting, when completed, will be posted on this Web
site along with any meeting updates. Participants are responsible for
their own expenses associated with participating in this meeting, such
as for travel.
Inquiries: Questions concerning this notice should be directed to:
Dr. Warren Jones, National Institute of General Medical Sciences,
National Institutes of Health, 301-594-3827, [email protected].
Dated: October 13, 2005.
Norka Ruiz Bravo,
Deputy Director for Extramural Research, National Institutes of Health.
[FR Doc. 05-21134 Filed 10-21-05; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4140-01-P