Indiana University spent $430,000 in federal lobbying in 2025, according to quarterly reports, a $10,000 decrease from its 2024 spending.
The university spent money on a wide range of issues, including research policies, science initiatives, financial aid for students, higher education policy and student-athlete Name, Image and Likeness.
This is the first time IU’s federal lobbying spending has decreased since 2021, but overall, over the last five years, yearly spending has increased by $150,000.
“If there is less money coming into the university through traditional means, lobbying becomes a priority,” said Mark Fraley, associate director of the Political and Civic Engagement program at IU Bloomington. “My intuition is probably that this is a much larger trend at other Research I universities as well.”
Since the Lobbying Disclosure Act passed in 1995, lobbyists have been required to report quarterly any clients, issues and bills they worked on and any government agencies or committees contacted. They’re also required to list the names of all lobbyists involved and the amount of money spent.
As part of the university’s Office of Federal Relations, Associate Vice President Doug Wasitis and Director Molly Connor are IU’s two lobbyists.
“The Office of Federal Relations advocates for the interests of IU with elected officials and agencies at the federal level, prioritizing the pillars of the IU 2030 Strategic Plan: student success and opportunity, transformative research and creativity, and service to the state and beyond,” Connor wrote in an email to the Indiana Daily Student.
Aaron Dusso, a political science professor at IU Indianapolis, said good lobbyists focus on the impact they can make through their connections.
“Oftentimes, that might be party leaders, but it also is likely to be people who are chairs of the higher education committees,” Dusso said.
Federal funding and research proposals
In all four of its quarterly reports, IU recorded lobbying activity surrounding 2026 federal appropriations for the National Institute of Health, the National Science Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Fraley said he believes that enduring cuts for research-related initiatives “raises the importance of protecting NIH, NSF and DOE grants.”
IU lobbyists also reported activity surrounding the NIH announcement in February 2025 of a 15% cap on indirect costs for any federal grants.
In the past, universities usually spent 30-70% of their grant money on indirect costs, such as buildings, overhead and maintenance expenses. The rest would go directly into the research.
This 15% cap would mean that less of their grant money could go to the indirect costs and would have to be covered by the university.
However, this cap was temporarily blocked by a federal judge on Feb. 10, 2025, and eventually struck down in April by U.S. District Judge Angel Kelley.
Title IV, Department of Education Title VI program
Funding for the Department of Education’s Title IV and Title VI student aid programs were mentioned multiple times in all IU’s quarterly reports.
Title IV includes federal student aid including Pell Grants, direct subsidized and unsubsidized loans and Federal Work Study programs. Title VI student aid programs prohibit discrimination from federal assistance due to race, color or nationality.
Fraley said when universities want increased enrollment, they require “generous aid packages that are available” to students.
“There is a big focus on this, partly in the consequence of the increasing cost of higher education,” Fraley said.
IU Athletics and NIL
IU lobbyists also reported college athletics issues on all four quarterly reports. The House of Representative’s SCORE Act ,which was introduced on July 10, 2025, and regulation of compensation earned by college athletes from NIL were mentioned.
In the second quarter, there were mentions of drafting legislation related to the SCORE Act as well as drafts for NIL legislation.
The SCORE Act was designed to provide a federal framework for athletes’ benefits including standardized NIL rules and certain benefits like healthcare and compensation, but the bill faced opposition.
The vote was eventually cancelled by House leadership due to an uncertainty in the support for the bill.
Compared to other Big Ten universities, Indiana is ninth in total spending with the University of California system leading with $3.09 million, followed by University of Washington at $1.341 million and Northwestern University at $1.270 million.
