The Trump administration’s budget allocation decisions have led to significant cuts in federal funding for university research across the country. Drake University, as a private institution, is not dependent on federal or state funding to remain open. However, externally funded programs at Drake receive federal dollars. 

Federal funding

In fiscal year 2025, Drake’s Sponsored Programs Administration & Research Compliance office submitted 57 grant applications. According to Lori Byrd, Director of SPARC at Drake, twenty-five were awarded by the end of the year for a total of $14,418,555.

Jerrid Kruse, professor of education, is one of the faculty members at Drake who draws significant funding from sources external to the University. He currently has multiple grants from the National Science Foundation. Within the University, he has funding from the Slay Fund for Social Justice and has previously received funding from the Drake Undergraduate Science Collaborative Institute. And as a Baker Professor of Education, he receives additional access to funds.

While his federal grants are through the National Science Foundation, Kruse said he knows of several colleagues around the country who have had their funding cancelled or been removed from research projects.

Drake Research Grants

Deputy Provost for Academic Affairs Jimmy Senteza oversees Drake Research Grants, which offer up to $3,000 per project for faculty members conducting research. Senteza reviews applications in consultation with an interdisciplinary panel. 

“That way, we can fund quite a few individuals rather than just funding large amounts. It’s a small supplement, another source of funding that faculty might have,” Senteza said.

There hasn’t been a specific increase in the number of grant proposals that Senteza has received. But the program he oversees is trying to find other ways to fund research as well.

“The level at which we’re trying to seek money has been about the same, only the access points have changed,” Senteza said. “What we have done is try to seek other opportunities that are still available. We’re moving more into the foundation space, or private support space.”

Drake Research Grants are funded from “a variety of sources, including federal agencies, the state of Iowa, and other private foundations,” said Byrd in an email.

Other funding

Kruse said that individual researchers aren’t shielded from the impacts of federal funding cuts because researchers applying to grants still compete with each other. But as an institution, Kruse said he believes that Drake might be partially protected from the impacts of federal cuts.

“We aren’t dependent on those grant dollars in the same way that some of the state schools are,” Kruse said.” I think other institutions might be dependent on grants to keep their doors open.”

Info Ed Spin is a funding search program offered by the University available to all Drake students, staff and faculty. The program calls itself the “World’s Largest Database of Sponsored Funding Opportunities.” The webpage also links to government resources and foundations that offer grants or funding for research.

“These are ways to try and diversify from the government,” said Senteza. “It’s just simply to expand the space. Some of these communities have remained supporting, but many others have reduced the amount of funding.”

Looking to the future

Kruse doesn’t believe the United States is on a sound economic footing after defunding scientific research.

“We’re essentially cutting our legs out from under us by not investing in basic science anymore,” Kruse said. 

Kruse said that the Trump administration’s implementation of federal funding cuts would make the United States less competitive on the global stage. 

“Obviously, with the current administration, it’s not even just cuts to basic science. It’s not just a shift in funding,” Kruse said. “It’s a reduction in funding, which creates all kinds of new problems. We’re just removing funding from everything, [and] you don’t even need to make an argument there. That’s obviously going to have negative impacts on the research community and the research that is done in the United States.”