just for those less familiar, it may be useful to note that the shift towards federal funds is typically linked to decreases in local funding for higher education.
It isn't 'organic' there has been an outside forcing function.
It isn't 'organic' there has been an outside forcing function.
I note this not to criticize the administration (although you can do that), but to point out that this dynamic has repercussions in terms of incentives. If you're a university president or provost and getting pressure from a conservative legislature to not depend on public funding (which really means "state funding" to them, but that's another discussion), and all of a sudden the federal government becomes this cash flow source, you're going to run to it, and leverage that as "being a good citizen" with the legislature. I think the causal directions go in both ways and have these kind of amplifying effects.
Totally agree with you on the rest.
What is interesting is the admins now finding that those same legislators won't leave you alone even if they strip all your funding. They will mess with you for cheap points and sport.