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On Monday, January 5, a panel of appellate judges unanimously upheld a lower court ruling blocking the National Institutes of Health from implementing a standard 15% facilities and administrative (F&A) rate across all NIH grants for indirect costs. The decision maintains current reimbursement rates, ensuring continued access to essential funding for annual expenses.

An update on UW–Madison’s participation in legal challenges to prevent wrongful funding cuts, grant terminations and delays.

The Association of American Universities and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce have joined together in a lawsuit challenging the $100,000 petition fee employers are required to pay for employees working with an H-1B visa.

Amid reports of plans to terminate over 600 U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) funding awards, including $12 million in approved funding to Universities of Wisconsin, Governor Evers send a note to DOE Secretary Chris Wright to highlight the importance and impact of these energy investments for Wisconsinites.

As the federal government shutdown continues, the UW–Madison community should be aware of the potential impact on immigration processes and international travel. 

Media outlets have reported that the U.S. Department of State has instructed U.S. consulates and embassies to resume visa appointments using new guidelines to screen the online and social media presence of all applicants for student and scholar visas. The new vetting requirements and procedures should be implemented within five business days (by 25 June). UW–Madison has not received official notice regarding the new visa applicant screening guidelines.

The Association of American Universities (AAU), the American Council on Education (ACE) and the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU) jointly filed a new lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, along with a number of impacted research university co-plaintiffs, seeking to halt the proposed Facilities and Administrative (F&A) rate cut to 15% for all Department of Defense research grants to colleges and universities. UW–Madison is a member university of AAU, ACE and APLU.

The Universities of Wisconsin are calling on Wisconsinites to share their federal financial aid stories to help preserve educational opportunities for future generations.