Danielle Douglas-Gabriel
July 14, 2016
The Justice Department said Thursday that Columbia University has agreed to pay $9.5 million to resolve allegations that it improperly charged the National Institutes of Health for facilities and administrative costs on more than 400 federal grants.
Prosecutors say the Ivy League school inflated the amount of money owed for use of facilities from July 2003 to June 2015. Universities are allowed to charge a higher rate for research conducted on campus to offset maintenance and operations expenses. Although Columbia faculty carried out federally sponsored research in buildings owned by the state of New York, entitling the school to a lower rate of reimbursement, the university applied the higher rate, according to the complaint.
