government shutdown

[solitude]

anyone remember what was the effect on biomedical research during the shutdown in 1995? Any chance the MSTP stipends will be temporarily halted?

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[obscurehero]

is the government really going to shutdown? I think they'll just keep passing continuation measures until they have to come to an agreement.

 

[Maebea]

Nothing happened back in 1995. The NIH sends the money at the beginning of the grant period, so a commitment would be honored for the current grant budget period. However, the grant slots could be cut at the beginning of the next budget period. If a 15% cut were imposed on training budgets, a program that had 35 slots could be cut to 30. The school would need to find a way to cover students currently in the program. They would almost certainly do so, but they might be forced to shrink the size of their entering class in future years.

Typically, the MSTP grant covers only 20% of a MD-PhD program's budget. Cutting the MSTP grant would not necessarily mean disaster. (This was not the case in 1973, when Nixon impounded training grants funds; the MSTP grant provided a much greater proportion of a progam's funding back then. Programs had to scrape for funds, and some scaled back significantly.) Of course, budget cuts, if enacted, would likely be spread across the NIH. Not only could programs not shift more costs to PI grants, but the PI might come begging the MST program for money to support students.

Alternatives for the NIH to preserve the number of slots would be to decrease stipends or to change the formula under which tuition costs are covered. The former would be unpopular with trainees, while the latter would enrage med school deans.

 

[solitude]

Nothing happened back in 1995. The NIH sends the money at the beginning of the grant period, so a commitment would be honored for the current grant budget period. However, the grant slots could be cut at the beginning of the next budget period. If a 15% cut were imposed on training budgets, a program that had 35 slots could be cut to 30. The school would need to find a way to cover students currently in the program. They would almost certainly do so, but they might be forced to shrink the size of their entering class in future years.

Typically, the MSTP grant covers only 20% of a MD-PhD program's budget. Cutting the MSTP grant would not necessarily mean disaster. (This was not the case in 1973, when Nixon impounded training grants funds; the MSTP grant provided a much greater proportion of a progam's funding back then. Programs had to scrape for funds, and some scaled back significantly.) Of course, budget cuts, if enacted, would likely be spread across the NIH. Not only could programs not shift more costs to PI grants, but the PI might come begging the MST program for money to support students.

Alternatives for the NIH to preserve the number of slots would be to decrease stipends or to change the formula under which tuition costs are covered. The former would be unpopular with trainees, while the latter would enrage med school deans.

very interesting, thanks--as always helpful.