Real budget cuts, maybe an explanation

[msocean]

I just read an article in the Sunday paper about cuts to research due to the budget sequester...take a deep breath...$54 billion over the next 5 years to NSF and NIH!!!!

 

Maybe this explains the late responses and less funding for those that are being accepted.  Unless your research is funded by endowments or private money...looks like it will be a rough road for those of us who depend on government funding.  I'm also thinking that if this remains the case, the next few years are not going to get any better.

[sansao]

It makes me glad to be admitted and funded for now. I'll borrow if I have to in order to finish, but that doesn't help future cohorts that are denied admission based on less money. If the current political climate is any indicator, this is just going to get worse.

[HappyEngineer]

This is bad. This means that there will be less students admitted to the program. Students rarely want to take a loan out to study PhD.  

[PaperTowels]

Yes, it seems pretty worrying. One school actually told me that they had a lot of difficulty funding the usual number of students due to it.

 

I suppose on the bright side, if you did manage to get funding, you'll ride these few years through, and things can only be getting better by the time you graduate and look for a job.

 

But then that's assuming the government ever gives back some of the money they cut.

[JungWild&Free]

Does anyone know how those cuts will affect NSF graduate research fellowships?

[child of 2]

where's the link?

[msocean]

http://www.usatoday....career/2002879/

 

http://aas.org/posts...u-speak-science

 

http://inscope.iu.ed...t-inscope.shtml

[child of 2]

so there's a $54 Billion cut across the board for NSF, NIH etc. But a $100 Million initiative to the NSF, NIH etc to map the brain... Am I missing something here???

Edited April 7, 2013 by child of 2

[child of 2]

fyi. I don't know who came up with the number 54B. But this articles talks about the actual federal budget on federal R&D funding, which includes an increase in funding for NSF, Dep of Energy, while the Defense budget gets slashed.

 

http://cen.acs.org/articles/91/i15/Obama-Pledges-Support-RD.htmlhttp://cen.acs.org/articles/91/i15/Obama-Pledges-Support-RD.html

[msocean]

Just ask your lab advisors.  Every one of mine, At UG and the grad schools I applied to, have received reduced federal funding this year...and had to wait longer for the decisions.  By my calculations, they took about a 13% decrease this year.  Doesn't sound like much but that might be one person's position in the lab.

[child of 2]

marine bio might be a different situation. The national lab for which I'm still technically an employee sends out newsletters. One of those letters from the Lab Director indicate that our DOE has seen a 5.1% increase from 2013. "Fusion Energy Sciences" had 13.6% increase. etc. I'm assuming it depends on what your field is.