S. 737 would modify several National Science Foundation (NSF) programs that provide grants to institutions of higher education and nonprofit organizations. Specifically, the bill would authorize the use of grants to study factors that contribute to female students’ participation in science, technology, engineering, and math education, and to develop and evaluate methods to increase female students’ participation in computer science. The bill also would direct the NSF to focus on early childhood education within the Discovery Research PreK-12 grant program.
In recent years, the NSF has spent about $160 million annually on those programs. CBO expects that implementing the bill would not change the total amount of grants awarded. Using information from the NSF, and based on the costs of similar tasks, CBO estimates that any administrative costs incurred under S. 737 would be insignificant; such spending would be subject to the availability of appropriated funds.