ABSTRACT
Government research grants and contracts pay the salaries and benefits of the researchers, the technicians, and the secretaries who work on the research effort and pay for the travel of the researcher and the materials used in a research effort. These costs are not the total costs to the University of carrying out research. To some extent these costs exist because the university exists. However, these costs are greater than they would otherwise be because the research is being done. One effect of the escalation of indirect costs was that researchers began looking for universities where indirect costs were lower, that is, where a bigger share of the grant money went to the researchers and a smaller share to the university administration. The problem of indirect costs, and the way it has put researchers and administrators at dagger-points, exists only because research is supported with federal funds. The conflict between researchers and administrators is inevitable under federal support of research.
