"Colleges look hard to replace earmarks; Lobbyists help scour D.C. for new funds" September 01, 2011|By Tracy Jan, Globe Staff
WASHINGTON - Dozens of Massachusetts colleges are scrambling to find alternate ways to pay for research programs, campus construction, and other initiatives to make up for the loss of federal money once delivered through so-called earmarks.
A two-year moratorium on the practice, which allowed lawmakers to tack dollars for pet projects onto a bill without debate, hits the state particularly hard. In the past three years alone, colleges in the Bay State received more than $57 million to fund items such as a large telescope at University of Massachusetts Amherst, a library renovation at Lesley University, and research on biological warfare at Boston University, according to the nonpartisan group Taxpayers for Common Sense.
In response to the freeze, schools are turning to Washington lobbyists to prowl the federal bureaucracy on their behalf, pleading with local benefactors to make up the difference in funds, and aggressively seeking federal grants. Researchers have been forced to shift priorities or lower their ambitions. In some cases, workers have been let go....
Northeastern has added two full-time lobbyists as part of an effort to expand its footprint in Washington....
As funding shrinks, universities must consider cutting workers and prioritizing programs, Jean Morrison, provost at BU, which is seeking an assistant vice president for federal relations, said....
--more--"
Also see: Parents save more, but watch college costs
